


Some Day My Prince Will Come And I Will Make A Total Fool Of Myself

by Fox_155



Series: NCT Wolf AU [6]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Attempt at Humor, Bad Parenting, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-11-02 10:40:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 31,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20717729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: Yangyang's parents never failed to tell him to never go to the forest. It was dangerous, deadly even, full of creatures out to get him.So, naturally, that's where Yangyang went to spend his free time. So far, no witches had tried to cook him for dinner, it'd totally be fine.Until he runs into some wolves.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Algún día vendrá mi príncipe y haré el ridículo total](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24341512) by [Vernxnie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vernxnie/pseuds/Vernxnie)

> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.
> 
> This is set in a wolf AU with A/B/O dynamics. So, there's mpreg. If you don't like that, please don't read it. 
> 
> This is part of a series, though you don’t have to read the other parts to understand this one. If you want to read the other parts, I have the timeline in the series. 
> 
> Btw I messed up the timeline, so Jaehyun is a 98-liner in this.
> 
> The LuYang tag is so dry, I needed to do something about it. I tried to be funny. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if I actually managed to be.

#####

The forest starting right behind their house was dangerous.

No one ever went there.

Not his mother, not his father, not anyone else from the village. Not even the loudmouth from the family restaurant down the street. Yangyang also shouldn’t go there.

If you went into the forest, you’d get killed by the spirits inhabiting it. Or something about wolves the other kids often talked about, but Yangyang’s mother had laughed and said there were no wolves in South Korea so he needn’t worry.

But spirits.

If Yangyang was being fully honest, it didn’t quite add up. But his parents had always been different from the rest of the village. It was their names, their manners, their clothes, their hair, and, of course, the stories they told their child to scare him.

His father and mother went to work every morning. They worked at the same steel factory that all the other parents in the village also worked at. When they came home in the evening, their faces were dirty and their bodies tired, but either would always sit down with Yangyang to go through his homework of the day.

When he had been younger, the old lady from three houses over had looked after him for the day. His parents had dropped him off when they left and picked him up when they returned. She had been very nice, always given him snacks and helped him with his readings. She had also warned him of wolves but his parents had said she was just old and had superstitions.

Spirits, for some reason, weren’t superstition? 

The old lady had died two years ago, of old age.

Yangyang had cried for three days and not eaten, but eventually, he had realised it was part of life. It was a circle, his parents always said. Like the sun rising in the morning, new life would be born, grow to its peak, and then slowly fade until it ended.

It wasn’t like Yangyang wasn’t old enough to stay alone anyway. He was going to turn 18 this autumn. He was nearly an adult.

That was why he no longer believed the tales about spirits and he had long realised that his school didn’t accept him for simply no reason at all, his name wasn’t foreign and different for the fun of it, and the stories, his parents told, so different from what the rest of the village believed in just so they could be edgy.

His parents called themselves Liu, but nowhere in the house could a single trace of the family, that name allegedly came from, be found. There was no proof they had come from anywhere, there was no proof they were citizens, there wasn’t even proof any of them had been born.

Yangyang knew they had to be illegal immigrants. It all added up. He had once carefully tried to find out more but his mother had broken into tears and his father hadn’t been off much better, so he hadn’t touched on it since.

He guessed no one just left their home because they felt like it.

There was a history there he didn’t know.

Just the whole spirit thing, that definitely was made up to scare him because Yangyang could walk through the forest just fine to find someplace that felt inspirational to read and study.

In theory, he’d love to hang out with the other kids his age instead of being weird and lonely between the trees.

The other kids his age didn’t want to hang out, though.

Yangyang had given up about 10 years ago and sought refuge in the storybooks about gentle princes and beautiful princesses. There was no limit to how many times he could re-read it. Where the other kids played ball or were on their phones, Yangyang had neither friends to play nor a phone to reach out into the wide world with, but he did have the forest.

It had always kind of called for him, but when little, the fear had still outweighed his curiosity.

The first time he had given in to the temptation had been shortly after the old lady had died and he had still been sick with grief. The days were suddenly filled with loneliness where, normally, she had been there to at least be company and sort of a friend.

The house had felt too sleek, to clean, and too un-personal.

So, Yangyang had picked up his comfort-book and put on shoes, climbed over the fence to the back of their yard, and carefully stepped on the soft soil for the first time.

It had been peaceful yet so lively at the same time.

The feeling he had had didn’t compare to anything else. It was comfort and thrill at the same time. No birds or squirrels had become his friends yet, but they’d hopefully soon accept him as one of their own.

When his parents had returned and he had hidden the scent of the woods by scrubbing his shoes, showering, and hiding his clothes deep in the laundry bin, he had felt guilty.

But not guilty enough to not return the next day, and the day after, and after…

Yangyang had perfected the art by now. He knew it was easy to smell the trees on him, the forest clung to him like it hugged him and didn’t want to let go when he returned to the village. The old lady had never been good at it, but he and his parents all picked up even faint differences in scent. They would notice were he not careful. Yangyang had special forest-clothes that he hid outside and changed into in the tool shed, as well as a dedicated pair of shoes he could get dirty.

There was no map, but he had a compass and if he went further, he used the same method Hänsel and Gretel used in the story, and marked his way with easily-visible marks.

He often returned to the same spot if he ended up liking it, but after too many times, he started feeling restless and had to go deeper to find a place he had never been at before.

He was always back 15 minutes early.

No one would ever find out.

He knew his father and mother had softly been discussing if he could start working at the factory soon. Yangyang had realised money was always tight around the same time he had figured out their illegal status.

His parents made sure there was always good food on the table and proper clothes to wear. Their garden was lush and well-kept. No one else’s gardening skills even compared to those of his parents. Yangyang had never thought money would be an issue growing up. Only more recently had he realised it was always only him getting the new clothes, the vegetables they grew were much cheaper than buying them, and the tools his mother used were old and many of them self-made from wood.

A branch cracked under his feet and Yangyang startled a little from the loud noise it made.

He wanted to help his parents, he knew he wasn’t going to be a child forever, but at the same time, he saw their tired faces every evening and he noticed how quickly they had aged over a short time.

The factory wasn’t only using steel to make beams and rails. It was using the people that worked there.

Unfortunately, there was no other option. The restaurant at the corner wouldn’t even serve them, the supermarket staff usually threw them dirty glares and called them mutts, the children his age had never been allowed to play with him and later switched to beating him up when given the chance to. Yangyang never had understood why, he hadn’t done anything, but it was what it was. The factory paid them badly, but at least they did that.

He looked up to see where the sun stood, then checked his watch, and, finally, his compass, before dropping a shiny gem. It wasn’t real, of course. Just a toy from his childhood. But they were easy to see and wouldn’t be eaten by birds or other hungry wildlife, so, he always used them to mark his way and, so far, he hadn’t ended up in any witches’ houses.

He could tell there was something up where he was headed. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was this scent – or, well, stench. He wasn’t sure what it came from, but he was too curious to not go and see.

Maybe it was dumb and he should listen to the uncomfortable feeling in his tummy.

He didn’t.

He only had an hour left until he needed to definitely hurry back and he had been able to smell whatever this was for half an hour already and never gotten to the point of origin. But it had gotten stronger, so it had to be somewhere here.

Yangyang kept walking straight ahead and occasionally dropped a marker.

Until the scent seemed to become fainter and he hadn’t seen anything.

Had he missed it?

He stopped.

No matter how comfortable they were, the trees were also always a little spooky, a little unsettling. He didn’t like admitting it, but he still secretly expected an evil spirit to appear out of nowhere and haunt him down. He hadn’t yet, but it was easy to get lost. All the trees seemed to be identical and they stood so close, it was impossible to see further than a few steps.

Which was probably how he had missed whatever was giving off this intense smell.

He turned 180° and slowly walked back to where he had come from, checking left and right to see if he’d find something.

It sounded like there were some animals running relatively close and Yangyang got ready to have some deer pass by him without getting scared to death. The first time it had happened, he had nearly had a heart attack. He leaned down to pick up one of his markers and the scent got so strong again it almost made his stomach turn. Really, it was like something had died – what _was_ this?

Suddenly, something broke from the underbrush and he quickly straightened back up, in case he’d have to jump to avoid collision with deer. But what came from the leafy branches wasn’t what he had expected.

No.

Not Bambie.

Not even close!

It was three wolves.

Yangyang dropped his gem and it hardly made a sound on the soft soil as it fell.

There were no wolves in South Korea? Well, someone had some explaining to do, those damn sure looked like the drawing in Rotkäppchen!

And they were running towards him.

It took him a second to realise what was happening – or what was going to happen – but then, Yangyang’s flight instincts kick in. He ran approximately 7.6 metres, but they cut off his path. He turned, but one of them had gotten behind him.

He was caught, like a rabbit. He stared back at the huge dark brown form of the wolf in front of him, that had its teeth bared and ears flattened against its head. Fear made him shake so badly, he could hear his teeth knock against each other.

It didn’t attack. It just stared back. One of the others behind Yangyang growled. He whimpered and instinctually leaned his head back, baring his throat. It sounded like the dumbest thing to do in this situation, but his body just reacted to the situation however it saw fit.

He waited for something to happen, anything. The growling behind himself didn’t cease but picked up and Yangyang closed his eyes. He didn’t really believe in any deities, but he sent a prayer to whoever might be listening.

“Hey, you realise you trespassed? And you smell…” A voice asked. Yangyang’s eyes flew back open and he came face to face with a guy – or not face to face because he was tall as a tree. Where had he come from? And when? Why was he walking past wolves? Why was he not running? Why was Yangyang not running when he really, really should be? So many questions made his head spin, but the other just stared back and Yangyang found himself frozen in place.

“What the… did you come looking for me?” the stranger furrowed his brows and for a second, Yangyang’s brain was very distracted by how handsome his face was.

He glanced to see the brown wolf, but it was gone. It seemed as though the man had replaced it? Or the wolf had turned into the man?

No, that couldn’t be right, that wasn’t how biology worked. Was he finally going mad? Too much loneliness could lead to hallucinations of imaginary friends, couldn’t it?

Then, the very real-seeming, most likely not imaginative stranger took a step forward and the flight instinct was finally stronger than the fear.

Yangyang screamed and turned. He just bolted past the wolves still standing between him and his way home, uncaring of their bared teeth. They seemed too surprised to react, which was fortunate for him and his overall health. Un-mauled, his legs carried him effortlessly and he ran without looking left or right, just back, home, far away from whatever this had been.

He didn’t stop to collect his gems and he didn’t turn to see if he had lost the wolves or if he was still at chance of becoming dinner.

He just ran with all he had until his lugs burnt and were trembling and the saving treeline came into sight.

He stumbled into the garden fence and somehow managed to pull himself up and over it. He just dropped to the ground on the other side, uncaring that he was in his mother’s strawberries. Strawberry season was over anyway, only pumpkins and autumn vegetables still waited to be harvested.

His breath kept coming short and hurried, and he peeked through the latches to watch the forest for a few moments until he was sure nothing had followed him.

He just left himself fall backwards and stared at the darkening sky, every last muscle in his body sore and overworked, still gasping for air.

What the fuck?

“Yangyang, your father and I have been talking. Your birthday is coming closer and you’ll be turning 18.”

Yangyang clenched his fingers tighter around his spoon. He had barely been able to eat and not because he had expected this conversation.

The earlier encounter still laid heavy in his stomach. But worse, once he had calmed down and stumbled into the house, he had realised he had lost his compass.

The old lady had gifted it to him on his tenth birthday, saying little boys were always adventurous and needed a guide on the way. Now, it was gone, somewhere in the forest, probably broken. He had other gifts from her, but this had been his favourite, the one that had meant the most. Apart from the shock that was still in his bones, it made him nearly tear up in anger with himself for having lost it.

His mood was already bad, but this conversation had the potential to take a turn for the terrible that he definitely didn’t need in his life right now.

“Is there anything you wish for? We thought we could maybe take a small vacation and make a trip somewhere to celebrate?” his father suggested. Yangyang’s fingers were still clamped around his spoon.

“I can’t think of anything.” He pressed.

“We don’t have to, we just thought it might be nice.”

“There are some things we need to talk about, now that you’re becoming an adult. It might be easier to talk somewhere where we can take a long walk after.” His mother softly added.

It was probably about the factory and Yangyang having to work there.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Do you have anywhere you’d like to go?”

Yangyang shrugged, “Maybe where you came from?”

The words slipped before he could think about them and both his parents froze, their spoons halting in the air.

“Nevermind. I… sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.” Yangyang sunk into his chair.

No one said anything for a few more seconds until, finally, his father resumed eating his soup without another word. Eventually, his mother did the same and the dinner ended in silence.

For the first time in two years, Yangyang didn’t grab a book he had prepared the night before and jumped down the stairs to the backyard immediately after the front door had closed behind his parents.

He slowly did the dishes, he did the laundry he would have usually thrown into the machine like there’d be a prize to win, and then stared at the bookshelf, trying to choose if he wanted to continue learning about physics or chemistry or music.

He had asked about sociology books but his parents had said they didn’t support what was taught in them, so, Yangyang guessed he’d just stay clueless about society. It didn’t seem too interesting anyway, so it was fine with him.

He ended up opting for chemistry and was about to slouch down on the sofa, to spend the morning unmoving and developing back-problems, when movement caught his eye.

Movement at the back of their yard, where he usually climbed over the fence.

Yangyang stepped closer to the window and screamed like he had yesterday.

There, tall enough to be visible over the fence, was a wolf. Dark brown.

He rushed to the door to the patio and checked the handle in a panic, but it was locked, how it should be.

Thank god.

Yangyang bit his lip and kept observing the wolf. It seemed it had just arrived and moved back and forth a little, then, it suddenly jumped up and steadied itself against the latches with its front paws and looked around curiously.

From back here, it looked unthreatening, cute almost, like the dog the neighbours across the street had, that unfortunately seemed terrified of Yangyang and never let him close enough to pet.

The wolf must have spotted Yangyang in the window, which really wasn’t be something any wolf should be able to do, and it dropped back down, only to come right back up and bark.

Yangyang darted away from the window and dove onto the sofa.

Nope, no one was home.

He hadn’t grown up reading brothers Grimm to open the door for a freaking WOLF!

He might be curious and sometimes reckless, but he wasn’t a complete idiot.

Unfortunately, the wolf seemed rather set on him actually being that dumb because it kept barking like it was calling. Yangyang knew it was not a good sign regarding his mental state that it felt like the wolf was calling for him specifically.

It was a bit like the pull to the forest that he experienced so often. Like something inside him knew more than Yangyang’s head.

There was no focussing on any reactions with the constant noise and he slammed the chemistry book shut to put it under his arm before walking to the window.

He opened it and the barking immediately stopped, instead, the wolf cocked its head curiously. It was much too smart for how a normal wolf would probably be. Not like he had ever met any before but they were frequently starring in fairy tales from all around the world. Yangyang remembered that, in a case of serious hallucinations, he had imagined it to turn into a human yesterday.

Well, seeing this, he suddenly wasn’t sure that he must have accidentally breathed in some toxic mushrooms and made the whole thing up yesterday. This wolf was too humanesque to fit his world-view.

Or maybe the mushrooms were growing under his bed and he was still tripping?

Either option, trip or smart wolf, was unsettling, to say the least.

“Go home!” He yelled across the yard and the wolf pulled its ears back and sunk down between its paws, looking across the yard with puppy eyes Yangyang could recognise at 50 metres distance. “Go. Home.” He repeated and now he could definitely hear a whine.

Yangyang closed the window.

He wasn’t suicidal. He was not going to go out to pet the wolf, even though the wolf was really cute and petting it sounded like such a great idea.

Keeping all his limbs definitely was an even greater idea than impromptu cuddling-sessions could ever dream to be.

Suddenly, he picked up a scent he hadn’t noticed before. His nose twitched and he took several deep breaths to try and get as much of it was possible. It was faint, but it must have come from outside when he had just had the window open a moment ago. A bit musky, a bit spicy… but definitely good.

Crazy good.

He couldn’t quite think of anything that’d smell like that and now the wolf was barking again.

Maybe he should just go to sleep and hope to wake up to everything being normal and the explanation being contamination of the drinking water?

It probably wasn’t. Hallucinations wouldn’t be this annoying, Yangyang was sure of it.

He read through two lines of explanations before he was fed up. Like this, even the neighbours would notice there was a wolf and… shit.

The neighbours.

Would notice.

A wolf.

Which was what they always said lived in the woods and what all their anger was constantly directed at. Yangyang had heard more swearwords for wolves than for anything else all his life.

Potentially deadly or not, the wolf didn’t deserve to the struck down by Yangyang’s neighbours when it hadn’t even eaten any grandmothers yet.

He jumped off the sofa and with two steps reached the backdoor, unlocking it in a swift move. He jumped down the stairs, book still in hand, and into his slippers.

The wolf was now straightened up on its hind legs completely and looked at Yangyang expectantly.

In a short moment of self-awareness, he realised this was the dumbest idea in the history of dumb ideas, but the wolf looked like it’d not even hurt a fly. Yangyang glanced at the neighbouring houses in worry, rather than at the predator on the fence.

He might need his survival instincts checked.

He didn’t get too close but left about five metres of safety distance.

His nose twitched when he picked up the spicy scent again, much stronger now.

Was it the wolf that smelt like that? Why did the wolf smell this good? Weren’t they supposed to smell of… wet dog?

This one didn’t, that was for sure!

“What are you doing here, dummy? You shouldn’t annoy the neighbours or they’ll shoot you down!”

The wolf jumped to the ground, out of sight for a moment, then it was back on the fence again and something glinted between its teeth.

“My compass!” Yangyang gasped and stepped over the stones his mother kept in the field, right up to the fence and face to face with the wolf – oh god, what was he doing? He had prided himself in his smartness just minutes ago and now he was doing exactly what he shouldn’t be doing!

Yangyang was about to stumble backwards and preferably flee into the house and lock the door, murderous neighbours and cute wolf or not, but the wolf dropped the compass and Yangyang got distracted by having to catch it.

It looked a little battered and was a bit slobbery but that was probably to be expected.

“It looked like it was something valuable. Compass? Isn’t that what human explorers used for travelling?” a deep voice suddenly spoke and Yangyang very slowly looked up to where it had come from.

Oh god, he knew this voice, this couldn’t be right.

But yes, it was.

Time to check the house for magic mushrooms and call the town’s administrations to inquire if there had been explosions in chem labs or power plants recently that’d explain this.

There, right over the fence, stood the tall guy with the doe eyes from yesterday. He looked less confused today and more handsome – in fact, extremely handsome – but there had just been a wolf, and the guy’s hair was the same chocolate brown as its coat and Yangyang heard himself scream again and stumbled backwards – right into the strawberries. They were really taking a toll these days.

“You… you… you…” he stuttered and grabbed his chemistry book, bringing it to his chest like that would help him.

“Me?” the guy leaned over the fence to get closer and, help, he was wicked handsome, from those doe eyes to a perfectly straight nose, plump lips, and an oval face with a sleek jawline.

“The-the-the wolf?” Yangyang gasped and he was really doing his all here to ensure in this personal fairy tale, where this stranger putting prince Charming out of business, he was taking the part of the court jester rather than any marriage-material royalty.

“Yeah?” the guy seemed to not see anything wrong with men suddenly standing instead of wolves on the fences of court jesters.

“Where did the wolf go?” Yangyang finally managed to ask – or rather hysterically screech.

The guy cocked his head a little, his mouth curling.

“I don’t get the question.”

“There was a wolf there, just now! Where did it go? Where do you come from? Why are you here? Wait. Are you not _wearing anything_?” Yangyang’s head was spinning. Were magic mushrooms deadly? Was he on his last breaths right now, imagining a handsome Prince in his backyard?

“Are you, like, okay? I literally just shifted, the wolf didn’t go anywhere, I’m the wolf – shouldn’t that be obvious? Clothes don’t magically transform and re-appear when you shifted back and I already had your compass to carry, so I didn’t bring any.” The guy didn’t even sound judgemental, he also kept a perfectly straight face with the small smirk still very much present and making Yangyang question everything from the big bang to the moment where the sun was going to swallow the earth.

This had to be a hidden camera.

Yeah!

That was it!

How had he not thought of that earlier?

He scrambled off the ground, chemistry book still in hand, then carefully collected his compass.

He turned to the guy and realised he was towering over himself and was that a six-pack?

No, he couldn’t let himself be distracted here.

“You are insane. People don’t shift into wolves. Thank you for rescuing my compass and maybe look for someone else to prank.”

Yangyang turned and marched back into the house – albeit on very wobbly legs.

The lock clicked loudly when he turned the key and the guy was still by the fence. Yangyang blinked and there was suddenly a wolf behind it again.

When he looked again, half an hour later, both Prince Bishonen and choco-wolf were gone.

Thank god.

Only the scent of spice was still in his nose and it was on the compass and wouldn’t let him go. He kept thinking back to the deep voice that had seemingly resonated in his own body, and to the doe eyes and plump lips.

It was back the next day.

Yangyang brought his physics book to keep as a weapon. This time, he watched as the brown fur melted into tan skin.

He was definitely either being drugged or going literally insane.

People didn’t turn into wolves. Wolves ate your grandma at best, they weren’t model-like young men in their free time that returned compasses to lonely dorks.

“You look so pretty in red! It suits you so well! Humans really get it so bright, it’s amazing! You should always wear red, it lets your beauty shine! Not like you need, I mean, you’re already really beautiful, but this looks great, you look great!”

Correction: they didn’t return compasses and complimented lonely dorks.

Thank god for the physics book, so Yangyang had something to hit the beaming guy with.

“I’m not pretty? I’m a guy, guys are handsome!” How was this manga character come to live waltzing around and telling _him_ he was _pretty_?

The stranger whined and stepped away to avoid further slaps with the physics book and god, he wasn’t wearing anything AGAIN!

This _had_ to be a hidden camera!

Only, why would the hidden camera douse their lure in this intoxicating perfume he seemed to be wearing? It was really the most confusing part about this whole thing, even worse than the inexplainable transformation from choco-wolf to Prince BishonenTM.

“Uh… I never heard of that. Why can’t you be pretty? You are pretty!”

“It’s not manly!” Yangyang snarled back. He felt weirdly okay with being called pretty, especially if this person was calling him so, but this was about principle.

What principle even?

Whatever, it just was.

The doe-eyed man blinked at him, still in obvious confusion.

“So you want me to say you’re handsome instead?”

“Y-yeah.” God Yangyang just wished for the tv people to end his misery – they didn’t even have a tv at home, he couldn’t catch himself looking like the world’s biggest idiot to kind of taste his 5 seconds of fame.

“Okay! You’re really handsome in red, you should wear it all the time, it suits you super well! Oh, by the way – what’s your name?”

Yangyang could hear his blood rush in his ears now and he was sure his face was slowly turning the colour of his sweater.

“My mum always told me not to tell suspicious strangers my name.” Yangyang’s voice was pitched embarrassingly, but he couldn’t help it. He was almost (very much) a little (extremely) overwhelmed by the situation – his mum had said not to tell strangers his name, but she hadn’t given any tips on how to behave when handsome (naked) strangers smelt like absolute heaven and smiled over the garden fence to compliment him.

A terrible lack of parenting on her side, clearly.

He shouldn’t even feel like this for another man. Men didn’t end up with men, it wasn’t a prince saving another prince in the stories, or the prince saving his stable boy – it was a prince and a princess, or a prince and a maid. And the court jester was usually forever alone, so Yangyang really shouldn’t be getting his hopes up here.

“What? Suspicious? Do I smell suspicious?” the guy’s face fell and he looked genuinely devastated. Yangyang was going to get whiplash and also possibly go into cardiac arrest because now he pushed out his lower lip a bit and pouted and _what_ had he done to end up in this situation? “Don’t I smell good to you? Can’t you tell I’m your mate?”

“I mean, you do smell nice, sure, we can be buddies, if you want?” Wait, what? Was he the white girl in the horror movie? Was he going to die first?

“Buddies? I don’t want to be buddies!” the guy looked offended now and Yangyang decided he had put his life at risk enough for the entire week, possibly year, and very slowly started his retreat towards the house. He was not going to be on some elaborate prank as the laughing stock nor getting his head ripped off because he was blinded by the handsomeness of who was probably a psycho!

See, his survival instincts were just fine!

“Do you really not smell it? I’m your mate! We’re destined to be together! That’s why I told the others to let you go and that’s why I came! I need to get to know you. I can’t get you out of my head, you’re literally the most beautiful person I ever met and you smell like, like, I don’t know, really good!”

Destined to be together?

Right.

For a tiny second, the more instinct-driven part of Yangyang’s brain flooded his thoughts with euphoric confirmation of the most ridiculous announcement of the century, possibly millennium, but he managed to calm it and put it in its fucking place.

“Listen, I get you’re trying to pull a prank on me here, but I told you, I’m not going to fall for it. Try and fool someone else with he wolf-trick and maybe invest in some clothes?”

Yangyang fled before the stranger maybe would snap and possibly tear his throat out.

There was no dramatic moment where he slammed the door shut and the wolf bounced off the glass or tried to break through it and Yangyang would have to push the piano and sofa in front of it to keep it closed, which would have been a problem seeing how they didn’t own a piano.

Instead, he heard the wolf whine from the fence for the entire morning, but he didn’t check back to see. At least he never trespassed, so he could just turn around and leave and wouldn’t be bothered. Overall, it really was a well-trained wolf and even the guy wasn’t too terrible or rude.

Okay and really handsome.

And smelt really amazing.

And made Yangyang’s pulse thunder.

Only, it all seemed like a set up for a joke show because it really couldn’t be reality. Things like this didn't happen and things like this especially didn’t happen to losers like Yangyang.

“Yangyang, when I went to get the herbs for seasoning I noticed there was something off in the garden. Did you see anything worrying?”

Yangyang nearly dropped the bowls he had been carrying to the table, but he managed to hold on. The wolf had come every day without fail for over a week now. It had just been a matter of time before someone noticed. At least it hadn’t shown its face when their parents had had their day off, but Yangyang had threatened he’d get his head cut off so maybe that had helped.

He also had showered Yangyang in compliments for over a week now and Yangyang was starting to believe himself that he was some crazy-handsome-guy, ready to be crowned Mr Universe.

Other than that, he was a bit weird in how he spoke, but he made good jokes and had effortlessly put the picture-frame, Yangyang had broken while cleaning up, back together without a single tool.

It had been very impressive and heart-race-inducing, and the guy had beamed brightly and said he was good with his hands, then added an eyebrow-wiggle, which had led Yangyang’s mind straight to the gutter. Nothing about that, other than the way there, had been straight, which he had then had a two-day crisis over because he couldn’t find himself to be turned off – on the contrary.

The stranger had huge hands. Yangyang had forbidden himself to think about it during the day to avoid awkward boners in places he didn’t need them.

He had started to doubt it was actually a prank. The stranger was too dedicated if it were and he never stumbled over any lies. It had gone on for too long. A TV production didn’t have time to wait a month, time was money with adults.

More troubling, it also seemed like he really was the same person as the wolf. Yangyang had seen him make the shift too many times right in front of his eyes to blame a trick.

It had to be, though. There was no explanation for any of this wolf-human-thing in his textbooks and when he had tried to do some research in the library, the shop owner had kicked him out and reminded him of the no-pets policy. It was a nice way of calling him a dog and he had been too scared to return.

It just reminded him that there was really no reason why some extremely handsome stranger should take an interest and say nothing but nice and sweet things out of the blue. It was suspicious as hell.

Ratting him out still was the last thing Yangyang wanted to do. Not when he didn’t really know where he was from and what his intentions were.

“No. Nothing.”

His mother looked at him for a moment and Yangyang did his best to hold the straight face.

“Okay. Good. If you do, tell us. I don’t want you to get hurt. You’re our everything, you know that, right?”

Yangyang felt his cheeks grow warm and nodded.

When he looked out the window the next morning to see a chocolate wolf leaning over the fence and whining for him to come outside, he felt a pang of guilt.

While not always very straightforward and open, he knew his parents loved him to the moon and back and did everything they could to ensure he had a good and easy life. He should really be telling them about this and not lie.

However, he felt like they’d put an end to whatever this was. Or even hurt the doe-eyed guy. Yangyang’s stomach turned at the idea. He might not really trust him too much and he also thought he was potentially still getting pranked, but there was no denying the guy was cute.

There was something about his scent that had Yangyang’s head spin more each time he smelt it.

“I told you to go home.” It had become their standard greeting and the fur melted into the Prince Bishonen face Yangyang had yet to grow used to.

“I was home. That’s where I came from.” The guy leaned over the fence with a bright grin and sniffed Yangyang, which was apparently his way of shaking hands or bowing. It was surprisingly easy to grow used to, unlike everything else.

“My parents are growing suspicious of you, I think. It’s probably the trampled strawberries,” admittedly, not the stranger’s fault, but Yangyang’s own. He better stay on the stepping stone today.

“Oh, I tried to not leave any marks on their territory. Or does it extend past the fence? It’s always a little hard to tell when Betas mark…” The stranger concluded his throughout morning sniffling and straightened back up. Yangyang’s heart inconveniently somersaulted in his chest. Only, his heart was really clumsy and couldn’t actually summersault, so it always landed on its face with a splash or so it felt.

“I don’t think my parent put any betasmarks anywhere, and no, the fence is the end.”

The guy blinked at him once, then broke into a fit of low giggling. He had the habit to bring his hand up in a loose fist and hide behind it a little. It was pretty ridiculous but also extremely cute and Yangyang wished his heart would stop trying to summersault and choose a different career, this was really not good for anyone’s health here.

“Betasmarks? You’re the cutest! One of your parents is a Beta, that’s why their marks are a Beta’s. Really, you city wolves are so clueless about the most basic stuff sometimes!”

“Why would my parents be Betas? That makes little sense, sorry.” Yangyang raised an eyebrow. For safety reasons, he still hadn’t given him his name, but he also never gotten the other’s in return and he sometimes wished he had something to put to the face. Prince Bishonen could only get him so far.

“What do you mean why would they be Betas? It’s natures decision or the old gods’ whatever you prefer.”

“You’re making no sense. Anyway. I’ll be gone tomorrow and the day after, so don’t come whining.”

The easy smile and open posture changed in the blink of an eye. The guy’s face fell, turning dark and almost angry, and he took a stance like he was going to rip through the garden fence. Seeing how he was still never bothering to wear clothes, Yangyang wasn’t sure if he should hope for him to do so, and get a better view, or pray he wouldn’t, so he’d be spared the depression over realising what more was below the waist when the upper part was already like a Greek statue.

Then again, they weren’t exactly known for being well-endowed, so there might still be hope for Yangyang’s pride in his own manhood.

“Where to? Why? With whom? When will you be back? How will you travel?”

“Dude, take a seat, you’re not my dad. My parents are taking me to the beach for my birthday. I’m turning 18, just so you know. I’ll be an adult!”

“I already knew that. Will you be safe? Are there any rivalling packs there? Dangerous humans?”

“How did you know my age? Did you stalk me or something? I don’t even have social media, did you break into the house?” Yangyang was sure he would have been able to detect the scent, but on the other hand, the stranger didn’t seem all too reasonable at best times.

“Your scent and your body. You didn’t answer any of the important questions!” he pressed.

Yangyang looked himself down and quickly wrapped his arms around his chest. Hearing that the strange wolf-guy had been looking at him to the point of concluding his age made his skin prickle. He wasn’t _exactly_ insecure, but he also didn’t fit the ideal of what a man should look like.

He was quite average height, no huge, broad shoulders, and while he did have a somewhat narrow waist, in relation to the rest of his body it just made him look more like a wet cloth and not a shredded warrior. Instead of rippling muscle under golden skin, there was squishy fat in some places.

The total opposite of this image of manliness in front of him.

Yangyang was sure, to make life as unfair as possible, the guy also had a huge dick.

“It’ll be fine. If it wasn’t safe, why would we go there? I’m not planning to waltz around the North Korean border.”

“Good. So you’ll be back two days after tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Oh, by the way, I think it’d only be appropriate you give me something for my birthday, don’t you? Since we’re buddies and stuff,” Yangyang grinned mischievously. He was still expecting this all to be over soon, but in the meanwhile, he was really enjoying himself with having someone so openly adoring him, that wasn’t his parents.

The guy perked up, all the annoyance and weird protectiveness gone.

“Would it? Is that a human custom?”

Yangyang had stopped stumbling over how he addressed humans like he wasn’t part of them. After how many times he had turned into a wolf, scented him, or done something else completely non-human, Yangyang started to agree that he wasn’t one of them.

Yangyang hadn’t left the village in so long, he had forgotten how intense the air on a train smelt, how beautiful the landscape looked where they rode past, and how high the houses on the capital rose, visible in the distance.

He couldn’t tear his eyes from the window, as mesmerised as the children in the waggon.

His parents didn’t mind that he was silently appreciating the outside. His father kept running his thumb over the knuckles of his mother where they were holding hands opposite of him, and he felt like it was a much-needed break for them as much as it was a change of scenery for him.

Incheon wasn’t as beautiful as Busan or Jeju, but it was much closer, much cheaper, much easier accessible than either of the other options.

Yangyang really didn’t mind.

The crowds of tourists that’d be here in the summer left a huge beach almost empty for them to stroll over. The sand was a bit cold under his feet, but he couldn’t keep his shoes on when there was this soft underground waiting for him to run over.

The salt in the air itched in his nose because the scent was so intense and strong, and Yangyang yipped as he ran up and down where the water was just barely touching, going in circles around his much slower parents.

He knew it was a little childish, but he couldn’t stop himself. He had been doing nothing but going to the grocery store for exercise in two weeks because he was too scared of the forest now, and he felt the need to run and exhaust himself in his bones.

So, he did.

By the time it was getting late and his parents and he had checked into their hotel room, Yangyang’s muscles were burning and sore, but he still couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot.

How it would fit for the beach, they went to a seafood restaurant, a small place with a big terrace overlooking the ocean, that was much too cold to sit on but they did anyway. The waves splashing onto the shore was the background music to Yangyang crunching through crabs like there was no tomorrow. He knew his parents were spending more than they normally would, but it was his birthday, his last one as a child, so he could be selfish and indulge one last time.

“Yangyang?”

His mother’s face was solemn when the plates had been cleared and the bill been settled but the owners had allowed them to stay. They had been nice, much nicer than anyone in the village, and Yangyang guessed it had to do with them not knowing he and his family had come from nowhere.

Here, they were just tourists, strangers who were supposed to remain strangers.

“Your father and I want to say how incredibly proud of you we are. We weren’t enough around, we know, and we wish we could have been.”

“Mum, I understand, don’t be sorry.”

“I will always be. Any parent would choose to see their baby grow and learn every second of the day if possible. But that’s not the reality we live in. The world is a very harsh place and your father and I did our most to keep you safe.”

“I know! Thank you for that, really!”

His parents both smiled, but their faces were lined with worry and fear and Yangyang didn’t like it.

“There are some things that, in order to ensure your safety, we weren’t able to tell you, Yangyang.” His father softly added.

“I know.” Yangyang knew about the Chinese name and the lack of documentation, the village people’s clear hatred for them – it wasn’t new. He still appreciated to maybe finally hear more as to why.

“Your father and I, we… aren’t from the village. As you might know. We fled there when we had you, or, well, before we had you but when we knew we would get you.” His mother took a deep breath and Yangyang waited patiently. It couldn’t be easy for her to remember such a hard decision.

“Yangyang, you know the forest is dangerous, right?” his father took over.

“Yeah.” He knew now.

“And it is. It is extremely dangerous because of who lives in it –it’s not forest-spirits but wolves that live there. Not regular wolves, not the type dogs came from, but shifters. They live in huge packs and own the land all over South Korea. That’s why no one would dare enter a forest if they didn’t have a death wish. They’re… murderous, vicious, and cruel.”

Yangyang swallowed thickly.

So, he hadn’t been seeing things? This really was the explanation?

A shifter? That was what the guy was? But he wasn’t murderous, vicious, and cruel. He was weirdly protective but sweet otherwise. Sweet, and a little dorky.

“We… we are shifters as well, you are one, too.”

Yangyang dropped the spoon he had kept spinning and the metallic clang it made when it hit the floor seemed to echo over the terrace they were on.

He hadn’t been surprised to hear there were wolves in the forest. He had already known that, sort of. It just confirmed that.

But he?

He was like that?

“What?” he heard himself whisper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yangyang and Lucas are such a great little hype-duo, they're both so loud and all over the place. Admittedly, they don't have that many moments yet, but there are enough and I really like the idea of the two together and they're also perfect to write into some more lighthearted work bc of their personalities being very easygoing and fully of humour~
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy you enjoyed their dynamic in the first chapter <3  
Thank you for all your feedback!!

“Yangyang, we’re sorry but we had to keep you safe. We need to live with the humans, it’s the only way to live. The less you knew, the less at risk of getting hurt you were, so we kept it a secret.”

“No. No that doesn’t make any sense. I can’t shift, I’m not like that.” Yet his thoughts went to how easily he had reacted to the behaviour that the guy had shown, that was so absolutely non-human. He hadn’t even had to think about it, he had bared his throat, he had scented, he had replied to any sign of animalistic actions with ease.

He hadn’t even realised but now, looking back with more clarity, he did.

“You can shift, in theory. But you shouldn’t. It’s not good to. We need to distance ourselves from that because all it brings is misery and suffering.”

“Why? What misery and suffering?” Yangyang heard his voice grow louder. He could _shift?_ And they didn’t want him to? He had a whole other side he never knew because they had kept him in the dark?

His parents' faces were set, both looking back at him sternly.

“It’s not something you would understand. You weren’t raised in the wild, and thank god you weren’t. Your life will be a lot better by never finding out any of this.”

“Never finding out? You won’t even give me a choice? You won’t even let me know why you decided this way for me?”

“It’s for your own safety.”

“For my own safety, you never told me that I could shift into a fucking wolf?”

“Yangyang, please calm down. We’re doing this because we love you. No wild beast out there would ever treat you right.”

“And the aunty at the supermarket who pretends the money I give her is dirty does? The boys who push me into walls and laugh do?”

“Not everything is perfect, but it’s the best option, Yangyang. You have to be grateful for all the opportunities this gives you.”

“Which. Opportunities?” Yangyang wasn’t even sure why he got this worked up, but his thoughts kept going back to the bright grin and big doe eyes in his memories. The angrier he grew, the more potent the scent seemed to be in his nose, the louder the deep voice echoed in his ears.

He had been clearly unhappy with Yangyang going as if he had sensed something would happen.

“You will get a job at the factory. The boss already confirmed it. You can find a girlfriend, maybe?”

“I don’t want to slave away for his gain.” He wanted to run in the forest, he wanted to learn the stranger’s name, he wanted to find out what there was behind the trees that allegedly was so terrible.

If it wasn’t a prank, he needn’t worry to be ridiculed but could trust that the stranger meant what he said, right? It suddenly all fell into place perfectly - if it weren't for his parents blocking the way.

“Yangyang, please don’t make this difficult for us. We want nothing but your best. All our lives, we have tried to make it right for you. We have sacrificed a lot for you, all we ask is a bit of gratefulness and understanding in return.”

He felt a tear of anger roll down his cheek, but he nodded. He knew his parents loved him. He couldn’t go and hurt them, but he felt so betrayed, the thoughts kept spiralling.

He felt they should have told him earlier. They should give him a choice. Or a reason why denying him one was acceptable.

“Now, that you’re an adult, you will probably present soon.” His mother went on. “As shifters, you inherited the biology, which includes a different system of sex and genders.”

“What?” Yangyang looked up, feeling utter confusion now. He was a man, right? What more was there to consider?

“We don’t need to go into too much detail before we know for sure what you turn out to be, okay? But that’s why we needed to tell you, so you weren’t shocked when it happened.”

Yangyang swallowed.

“So… if I wouldn’t be presenting… you wouldn’t have told me at all?” he asked. His voice was barely a whisper and he heard it tremble, but he couldn’t help it. It couldn’t be true. His parents wouldn’t do this to him. They wouldn’t let him live in lies, right?

“Of course not, sweety. If it weren’t for these issues you could be living as a human happily all your life.”

It felt like someone had dumped ice over him and pushed him down a cliff. His stomach turned and he felt like throwing up.

Maybe this was why he had always felt drawn to the forest, maybe this was why this other guy looked so handsome when he shouldn’t, maybe this was why Yangyang kept going to see him instead of being reasonable and staying in the safety of his home.

Worse.

There was a whole world where he actually belonged out there, but he was missing it because he was getting bullied by the village people. The “humans”.

Which he wasn’t one of.

That was why he had not been allowed into the school. That was why he was an outsider.

How could his parents claim this was a happy life? How could they take this decision from him without even asking?

They walked back to the hotel.

Yangyang didn’t say another word. He was unable to, there was nothing that’d express what he felt, nothing would be enough to let his parents know how betrayed he felt, how misled and how patronised. How much he suddenly felt like he didn’t belong where he was at all, how he wondered if all this discrimination could have been avoided were he just in the place where he belonged.

What could have been terrible enough to make his parents think any of this was something to be grateful for?

Yangyang didn’t understand. And they hadn’t given him an explanation.

He showered and laid down in bed, but sleep didn’t come. He just stared at the ceiling above his head and felt tears run from the corners of his eyes.

He was an adult now, but he had never felt this powerless and like a child ever before.

The train ride home was as silent as the one to Incheon, but not because of how mesmerised with the landscape Yangyang was. He didn’t look outside. He didn’t feel any reason to. He stared at the table in front of himself while his parents softly conversed.

They seemed oblivious to his inner turmoil, they didn’t look the least bit regretful or worried after having revealed how they had lied to him all his life yesterday. Instead, they smiled at each other like they had not done any of that.

It only made Yangyang feel angrier and even more misunderstood.

How could they so completely disregard his feelings? Weren’t they supposed to care about him? He fought more tears. It wasn’t manly to cry, he didn’t want to keep doing it.

Walking through the town from the train station, it suddenly made sense why the other people of the village smelt differently from his parents. It wasn’t just because they were his parents. Because the guy from the forest smelt a bit like them – and not at all at the same time. The undertone wasn’t exclusive to just the two. It was probably one shifters carried.

When his parents asked him if he had enjoyed the trip, he nodded.

But he hadn’t.

It had brought him clarity, but it had also brought him insights he hadn’t wanted to gain.

When he looked out onto the moonlit treetops, the pull was stronger than it had ever been before. It was like a need, something running under his skin, to get out there and feel the soft soil under his feet, smell the trees and all the different beings living between them.

Yangyang didn’t remember how he had found the border, where the scent had been so strong and the wolves had scared him. Where he had seen the stranger for the first time.

He knew they probably would find him again if he went now. It might not be ideal, seeing how they had been ready to tear his throat out. He ignored rationality.

All he could think of was the betrayal and the world out there that he belonged to but didn’t know.

The doe eyes and the huge grin.

He stumbled downstairs and didn’t even bother keeping quiet despite his parents being asleep only a few walls away. He scribbled a note, telling them not to worry and not to look for him, and found his forest-shoes hidden where he had last left them – a little dirty, but they’d do.

The strawberries were seriously battered but Yangyang disregarded the harvest of the next year and stepped on them just to spite his parents. He grabbed the fence and caught a whiff of the maddening scent that stranger always had to him.

He needed to find him.

Right now!

With ease, he jumped over the wooden planks. He could still smell him here, it was like a marked path. He didn’t hesitate to follow it. He didn’t know where he was headed, he didn’t even have his compass nor his gems, but the scent was enough to help him find his way through the trees and bushes that slowly grew thicker and denser.

It might have been hours or minutes, Yangyang didn’t know, he just kept going forward, deeper and deeper into the forest and following the track with ease.

His legs had started to burn, still exhausted from the day before, but he ignored it.

He had a goal.

And, finally, he smelt it – the unsettling stench he had encountered weeks ago.

He was close, so close, and Yangyang passed over the line, that was almost screaming for him to keep out, and dove deeper into the territory.

Was it a terrible idea?

Maybe.

But that didn’t stop him.

Maybe it should have.

It was all just a jumbled mess of anger, sadness, and curiosity that turned into this explosive mixture. It let him make reckless and dangerous decisions.

The moment Yangyang heard the familiar sound of paws hitting the ground at a fast pace, announcing the arrival of a heavy predator, he felt regrets.

His parents had said something about murderous wolves, and the last time he had been here, two of them had had their teeth bared at him.

Maybe, the stranger was an exception and Yangyang had stupidly concluded him to be the rule.

He had been a bit blinded by emotions, admittedly.

His parents would only want the best for him, wouldn’t they? Why should they hurt him so much, right? They wouldn’t.

He was about to turn around and maybe still flee, but it was too late, a shadow-like form hit his chest and with a groan, Yangyang went down.

He felt breath against his throat and realised that he better act immediately or this wolf would make quick work of him.

“Please! I’m sorry!” he whined and laid limp, showing the most submission he could in the position he found himself in.

Another wolf growled viciously from behind the first and Yangyang whimpered in his throat.

“Please, I’m looking for my friend.” He softly tried. The breath still ghosted over his skin and it was starting to feel a bit damp, but no teeth were on it yet.

Yet.

“Which friend? Name?” someone barked and Yangyang whimpered. He really should have been expecting more shifting wolves, maybe he should have also expected to be asked for confirmation on actually knowing someone here. Preparations had definitely not been made appropriately.

“I-I don’t know his name, but he’s tall, with really big eyes, chocolate hair, and, and…” he didn’t want to go off in a rant over how perfect the stranger’s face was and how chiselled his body. That’d just be embarrassing. “I swear, he came to see me a lot and we’re friends, really!”

The wolf on his neck pulled away and a moment later, there was a person caging Yangyang against the ground.

In the darkness, Yangyang could see bright eyes and a small nose, face set in anger.

“He came to see you? For nearly a moon? Did you say tall, handsome, loud, deep voice? Sounds familiar?” he snarled, clearly pissed.

“Y-yes!” Yangyang nodded frantically and another growl came from the person over him, making him curl up as much as he could. He had an interesting scent, his mind supplied, a bit like more like his father, with sweet and flowery undertones.

It was nice having gotten a reminder before probably getting his head bitten off.

“Fucking Yukhei! Obeying the rules and remembering basic survival instincts _one time_ is all I ask for.” The guy looked back at Yangyang, his stare piercing. “You’re still unpresented.”

It wasn’t a question but Yangyang still nodded.

“You sure he’s the one?” the other person asked, sounding not as hostile anymore. Perhaps the court jester would live another day and perhaps catch one last glimpse of his prince…

“Probably. I’ll take him to the camp and rip Yukhei a new one for going against orders. He can say if he’s legit or a fraud and we can decide what to do.” Yangyang swallowed thickly. Was Yukhei the name of the stranger, perhaps? He remembered the stranger – Yukhei? – had said he had told the others to not follow him, back then, because of his scent. It seemed like more people had gotten word of that?

Was Yangyang known here, indirectly? Should he rather prepare autographs or a will?

The guy pushed himself up and pulled Yangyang off he ground like he was a puppet, making him almost fall over from the force at which he was brought to his feet.

“You got that?” the guy asked. His face was better visible in the faint moonlight now, and Yangyang’s brain supplied that he was really pretty but terrifying, “If you think you can waltz in here and cause trouble to my pack, you’re going to dearly regret that.” He had stepped right up to Yangyang, whispering the words, but Yangyang felt cold horror run down his back.

“Y-yes!” He could only hope that he’d find the stranger because if he wouldn’t, he wasn’t confident he’d make it out alive.

His parents’ words echoed in his head and regrets over coming started bubbling in his stomach.

“Shift!” the guy snarled and Yangyang startled in his place. There was no room to talk back but he…

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean, you can’t? Do you have orders to not?” The guy’s eyes narrowed and he was right in Yangyang’s personal space again, literally breathing down his neck. He was even shorter than Yangyang, but he was much more of the shredded warrior Yangyang wasn’t, not to mention this tone, this would have experienced soldiers shaking!

“N-no, I d-don’t know how!” Yangyang whispered and tried to make himself appear smaller than the man.

He heard him sniff and grumble, “You’re a full wolf, though, why can’t you shift?”

“I…” Yangyang felt tears well up. It was all just so overwhelming. First the revelations and anger, then the hope and weird longing, then his fear over his life, and now he still had to prove himself to avoid getting ripped to pieces by the small scary wolf. “I didn’t even know I was one until, until, until yesterday.” He whispered.

“Shit, what? How can you not know something like that?”

Yangyang shrugged helplessly.

“Why are you here then? In the middle of the fucking night? Did no one tell you it’s stupid as fuck to waltz over a border? And twice? Is there anything but air up here, hm?” he tapped a finger against Yangyang’s head.

“No, I mean, yes, I figured but I didn’t know where else to go, I just.. found out and…”

“Just as reckless as the mate, match made in heaven.” The anger had somewhat melted off the guy’s face and he sighed, “You just found out you’re a wolf yesterday and you came here because you knew Yukhei’s here? You want to see your mate for comfort, right? That you have a mate in the first place didn’t seem suspicious?”

“Well, I don’t really have any other friends and I also was still quite sure it was all a prank anyway, and then I kinda thought of him, and, yeah,” Yangyang muttered. Having friends didn’t seem suspicious, no.

“You don’t have any friends?” the other gasped.

“Well…” Yangyang shrugged again. Where should he even start, did they have three days to spare?

“Okay, well, don’t worry. We’ve got you! What’s your name?”

“Yangyang.”

“I’m Ten, I’m the leader of the sub-pack your brainless mate belongs to. Nice to meet you.”

Yangyang really didn’t know why Ten kept calling the stranger mate and not friend, but he felt so reassured, he nodded.

The trip from the border to the actual village took what felt like forever. Ten had announced he would freeze his ass off, and his ass was much too precious for that, and turned back into the pitch-black wolf next to which Yangyang struggled to make his way through the forest that wasn’t designed for anyone to walk upright.

By the time they reached where fewer trees were and huts standing between them, sort of like a symbiotic co-existence, Yangyang was so dead-tired he could hardly even appreciate them enough. There were so many of them, all in order, clearly with a purpose to the design – but sleep.

“I’ll drop you off with my mate and we’ll address the whole Yukhei-issue tomorrow, okay? I’d not hesitate to rip him from sleep but you look so tired I feel bad.”

Yangyang mutely nodded and wondered who Ten’s friend was and if they were nice and if he could sleep somewhere there. Anything would work, including the cold hard ground right where he stood.

Ten pulled a sweater and pair of simple trousers from where they hung on a bush and pulled them on, before showing him to one of the huts in the outer line. Yangyang should be more outraged over the lack of clothing people continuously wore – or not wore – around him, but it was all just way too exhausting. If they felt fine – great.

Ten knocked once but didn’t wait for confirmation before opening. A new smell hit Yangyang’s nose when he pushed it open, muskier, a lot more like that of the stranger and less like his father. It was all new and all extremely fascinating, but he was also so _tired_.

“Yongie?” Ten softly asked and the scratch of a matchstick came from where he was, followed by a small flame illuminating the hut just enough to see. Yangyang had never had been troubled much by the night making things darker, his eyes still capable of picking most of his surroundings up. Like this, he could see well enough to orientate himself in the unfamiliar setting.

Someone stirred under a bunch of blankets.

“Tennie? What’s wrong?” his voice was husky from sleep and Yangyang wondered what was up with the cute nicknames between friends.

“Nothing. I found a puppy on the border, his name’s Yangyang and guess who’s been coming to see him for weeks – Yuk-no-don’t-worry-I-would-never-do-something-so-dangerous-hei.” Ten grumbled.

The guy got up from the bed and waddled over. Yangyang couldn’t hold a yawn.

“I thought he’d best sleep here and we figure things out tomorrow?”

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea,” ‘Yongie’ sounded like he’d pass right back out given the chance, just how Yangyang felt.

“Of course, it was mine, after all.”

“Yes, you only have amazing ideas.”

Yangyang seemed to be in a cheap romance novel now. Would there soon be a dramatic love-triangle?

Was _he_ going to be the third person in the love triangle?

God, please no. Yangyang could _not_ have Ten breathe down his neck again, he was going to start crying.

“I’m Taeyong. I hope you’re fine with staying here?”

Yangyang nodded weakly. The hut seemed a bit warmer than outside and it smelt overall good. If he just slept, he couldn’t get into love-triangles.

Hopefully.

“Good. Let’s get you somewhere to sleep, you look like you need it.”

God yes, he did.

Yangyang woke up to the sound of people trying to sneak around but not being sneaky enough. He felt confused about where he was and the scent was all wrong. When he pulled his blanket up to his nose, it was fuzzy and furry and that finally made him startle to consciousness and look around.

“Sorry!”

His head jerked to where the voice had come from and he slowly remembered when he saw a raven-haired guy with a small pot of something steaming. Now, that sun was filtering into the hut, his face was better visible than last night, all soft curves with piercing eyes. Wow, he was so pretty.

Wait, what?

Handsome, he was handsome. Getting into a love-triangle suddenly didn’t seem that bad an idea anymore.

Or he might have lost too many brain cells at this point.

“You can sleep more if you want.”

Yangyang felt a little groggy but his mind was wide awake, trying to compute all the different scents and take in every detail of the hut. It was clearly handmade without heavy machines, but everything was worked out carefully and it was homely.

“It’s okay.” He shook his head.

“Good, well, we’ll have breakfast in a moment. Maybe you could tell us a bit more about yourself? Why you came? We really don’t need a dispute with another pack, we’d rather make sure.”

Yangyang nodded. He was still overwhelmed, but the curiosity far outweighed everything else.

The door opened anew and another guy came inside and Yangyang decided that if photoshop outside hadn’t given him body-issues, being here would definitely finish the job because he was even more handsome than Ten.

“Oh, you’re up already? You should rest more!”

“He said it was fine, did you bring an extra bowl?”

So, Yangyang found himself eating the surprisingly tasty soup, that might have been made from anything from vegetables to old shoes because it was absolutely beyond identification, served and wondering why Ten had breakfast with his bestie he was calling nicknames. On the side, he gave a very narrowed-down summary of why he had been in the forest a few weeks ago, how Yukhei had kept visiting him, and then how his parents had casually revealed they had been keeping secrets from him for 18 years and he was now utterly at a loss of what to do.

“I can’t believe you can’t even shift. Even Jaehyun can!” Taeyong muttered when he had finished answering all questions.

“I’ll be honest, Yangyang, I think you have to go back and talk to your parents. I know it can suck, believe me, I have more than one bill to settle with my _dear_ father, but if you didn’t even tell them goodbye I’m not sure they won’t try and find you. An Omega can only leave their pack once they’re presented and mated. If not, the old pack can come and take them back and that wouldn’t be pretty. We don’t normally let any strange wolves into our territory – you’re lucky you’re unpresented and had a good reason or that would have been unfortunate for Yukhei.”

“Uh, so, you murder people? On a regular basis?” Yangyang carefully looked around. Most of the sentence had made no sense, but that was what he had taken away from it. He wasn’t sure if having breakfast with murderers was a good idea? Breakfast at Tiffany’s but instead breakfast at Chucky’s?

Ten burst into laughter and Taeyong joined in a softer giggle.

“No, no, people normally aren’t as thoughtless as you and cross.” Taeyong finally explained.

Yangyang nibbled on the chopsticks. He was only mildly reassured but he also wasn’t sure Ten wasn’t actually joking.

“Do you want me to leave?” he carefully asked.

Ten and Taeyong exchanged a glance.

“Well, maybe staying a day would be acceptable. You parents did mess up, a lot.” Ten carefully suggested.

“Yeah, I agree. Once you’re presented you’d be free to move here anyway with getting mated to Yukhei and all.” Taeyong nodded.

“Uh… what?” Yangyang tried to make the connection but came up short.

Ten and Taeyong blinked at him, then, their faces fell in unison and it was honestly a little funny if Yangyang didn’t feel like he was missing something of the size of Jupiter here.

“Mate? You know what a mate is?” Taeyong asked, sounding panicked.

“A… friend?” Yangyang glanced at Ten, who looked like his life flashed before his eyes.

“Fuck, I really want to go and have a word with your parents,” he gritted out.

“Don’t feel bad, okay? You couldn’t have known.” Taeyong assured him, possibly having sensed Yangyang starting to really wonder what was wrong with him. “To us, mates are people that are bonded together through a mating claim. They’re soulmates, in a way, there’s a predestined mate out there for every wolf and once a year there a meeting to find that wolf and bring them home. Well, the Omega usually moves to the Alpha or Beta’s pack, which is a whole different story, but let’s just roll with that. Okay?”

“Yeah, uh, Omega? What’s that?”

Ten jumped off the floor with a growl, but Taeyong grabbed him and brought him to sit back down. Ten’s eyes were glowing blue and he looked read to turn into the incredible Hulk and smash down the whole forest.

It was just past mildly concerning, as in: absolutely terrifying.

“Tennie, let’s stay nice and calm.” As usually, when people told someone to stay calm, the opposite happened. Yangyang would have been able to relate, wasn’t he worrying whether or not he’d make it out alive at this very moment. He definitely should remember to _never_ cross Ten.

“He doesn’t know what a fucking OMEGA IS! I’M NOT CALM!”

“Well, yes. So, Ten is an Omega, I am an Alpha. You can tell our scents are different, right? Ten has blue eyes in his wolf, I have red, things like that.”

Yangyang had noticed there was a difference, but he hadn’t known that meant anything.

“There’s also Betas, their scent is usually a bit fresher and cooler. That’s what I mean when I say present, you find out which of the three you are, it happens for every wolf when they mature into adults. The only big difference would be that Omegas have heats and Alphas have ruts. It’s just a time during which they’re more fertile and more needy of sex.”

Yangyang immediately felt his entire face, no, his entire body heat up. Taeyong seemed wholly unbothered but this wasn’t a topic anyone ever spoke of! This was private and taboo!

“I’m so upset, look at the poor thing, I need to keep him!” Ten whispered.

“Ten, we can’t abduct puppies,” Taeyong whispered back and Yangyang might not only have to worry over murderous tendencies but kidnapping as well? “Anyway, heat, right, you might want to know that male Omegas can get pregnant. There’s ways to avoid it, but you have to remember it can happen for Omegas or you end up knocked up much faster than you had wished for.”

“Now you’re just playing me,” Yangyang laughed. Really, he had biology books, he knew how things downstairs looked for both men and women and he knew how they looked inside his body.

“Moon, I wished this wasn’t the case, believe me.” Ten groaned.

“Uh, yeah, but, like, men just, uh, can’t. It’s biology and stuff.” Yangyang felt himself stutter over the words and unbidden images he hadn’t been supposed to see re-appear in his head.

Do not think about the stranger’s big hands, do not think about the stranger’s big hands…

“Human biology. Wolves are different. I mean, if you want proof, we have proof.”

Yangyang really wished there was still good reason to hope for someone to jump up and call “surprise, you fell for it”, but no one did and his hope was dwindling by the second.

“I wonder if we cleared everything up…” Taeyong mumbled. Yangyang hoped so, too, or maybe not because there was only so much he was able to take without declaring himself insane.

“Well, I think you should get training in shifting. I can’t even imagine being stuck like this only!” Ten chipped in and Yangyang perked up, miraculously healed from the spontaneous stress-headache over possible pregnancies. He’d really want that! The chocolate wolf was so cute and the shift was incredible, and how awesome would it be to be able to run around on four paws?

“Ten, we can’t abduct puppies. Only for today, okay, Yangyang? You need to figure things out with your parents. Once you’re ready, you can come and find Yukhei to get mated and live with us. And figure out shifting.”

Yangyang had nodded along, seeing the reasoning and agreeing, but suddenly there was this really big thing he had just forgotten over all the other really big and mindblowing things, which was:

“Wait, mated?”

“Oh.” Taeyong and Ten both echoed.

They didn’t get any further, and Yangyang was still trying to even remotely wrap his head around the first thing, when the devil they had talked about came.

The knock on the door was more like a bang, making it shake on its hinges.

“Taeyong, Taeyong!” the deep voice resonated in Yangyang’s chest and it was time for his heart to try becoming an Olympic athlete in his chest again. Today, it was trying to break the 50m-record instead of somersaulting onto its ass. Regardless, Yangyang was sure neither of them would survive this.

“Well, I think it’s best for you to figure it out yourself, right? You came to see him, didn’t you? We don’t want to hold you back.” Taeyong smiled, before his face turned more serious, holding that intimidating glare Ten also had. “Except for the whole breaking his promise thing, of course. That will have consequences.” Okay, better not cross Taeyong either. Yangyang should make a list, maybe.

Ten had gotten up and opened the door, and Yangyang gripped his chopsticks tighter when he saw the stranger in it. Today, he was dressed. A shocking change which left him with a mouth as dry as it was when he was rudely flexing his six-pack on the other side of the fence. He wore a thick sweater much more appropriate for the weather, but it was hugging his shoulders and waist perfectly. His eyes found Yangyang’s almost immediately and his jaw dropped.

Normal people would look dumb. Prince Bishonen was incapable of doing so, an unfair observation Yangyang had already made previously.

God, he was so dreamy.

God, this was so gay.

“Well, look who came and told us you were sneaking away to see him for weeks when he swore not to get his ass into trouble by waltzing into the human territory.” Ten’s voice became sharper with every word and the stranger shrunk in on himself.

“Uh, yeah, well, I can explain!”

“You will. But we’re going to spare this innocent and sweet little puppy here.” Ten snarled and the stranger whimpered softly. His eyes found Yangyang again and he was torn between freaking out and wanting to run over and greet him. “He can stay until the evening.” Ten added and the stranger ceased whimpering and straightened up with bright eyes.

“Really? Did you come to spend time?” he asked, clearly directing the question straight at Yangyang this time.

“Y-yeah,” suddenly knowing that this was not a major set-up made it all a lot more nervewracking. Plus, what was this mate-thing? Taeyong had said to figure it out, but… HOW?

“Oh my moon! Come, come, come, I have so much to show you!” the stranged waved his hands wildly and Yangyang glanced at Taeyong for confirmation before getting up and slowly walking over on slightly wobbly legs. There were definitely some records being broken by his heart right this moment and Yangyang just wanted to throw the thing out the window.

“You bring him back by the time the sun touches the big oak!” Ten demanded and Yukhei obediently nodded, not looking like he had listened.

The hut’s door closed with a last “Don’t hurt the puppy!” and Yangyang realised he was now alone with the stranger, standing closer than ever before and without a fence as safety and good lord was he _tall_ and _handsome_ and he surely wasn’t going to live to his 19th birthday like this.

“Why did you come? How did you find me? How did they even let you in? Weren’t you on your trip? Wait, can I know your name now? Please?” the stranger leaned in and started scenting him how he usually did, but today, he suddenly started rubbing against Yangyang as if to leave his own scent on him.

He had already felt dizzy but now the world was starting to merrily spin around him.

“Yangyang. That’s my name,” he answered and the stranger pulled away and Yangyang got confirmation that, yes, he had his scent all over him now, a lot heavier in his nose, and he didn’t know what to do with this because it smelt so heavenly. Maybe he should try selling this as some sort of drug. It seemed a preferable career choice over becoming a factory worker.

“Yangyang!” the stranger repeated, looking like he was staring at a baby cat from how his eyes sparkled and Yangyang didn’t know how to deal because handsome men usually didn’t look his direction, actually, he didn’t even know anyone this handsome. “I’m Yukhei! I always wanted to tell you but not if you didn’t first!”

“That’s childish,” Luckily, Yangyang was not inhibited in his fast retorts from these inconvenient feelings. So he had that going for him, which was nice.

“Excuse me?” Yukhei pouted. Why did he keep pouting, why did he keep being cute, why was no one here having any regard for Yangyang’s poor heart?

“At least, it turns out, you own clothing,” Yangyang glanced at the sweater again and, wow, Yukhei’s shoulders were _broad_, the sweater needlessly accentuated just how.

Yukhei smirked and stood a bit taller, “Obviously I do, why would I not. I made this myself. Oh! I have a present for your birthday! I really hope you’ll like it, I put in a lot of effort. I wanted to bring it today but then I picked up your scent for the leader hut and now you’re here and… why are you even here?”

Yangyang turned away, upsetness choking him up once more. He didn’t want anyone else to see he was a crybaby, that was so not manly.

“Things… with my parents. Anyway, I’m sorry for not believing you when you first came and insisting you were pulling a prank. It just seemed like the better explanation but now… it all makes sense so. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t feel sorry!” Yukhei was suddenly in his field of vision again, like those mosquitos that didn’t want to lay off you. Only, a very handsome mosquito that could bite Yangyang any time. Wait, what? “What’s wrong with your parents?”

“Not… much. I mean, they sort of told me I was, uh, I could shift into a wolf and they had kept is secret all my life and only told me now because of presentation and now Taeyong said that, what was it? Omegas? Can get fucking pregnant. They didn’t think to tell me earlier, really?”

“Wait, wait, wait, what? You didn’t know Omegas can get puppies?”

“Dude, I didn’t even know Omegas were a thing.”

Yukhei’s jaw dropped lower and lower and he should look stupid but he was too handsome to, and it was just all really unfair.

“Shit! Oh my sun! I should have protected you better and not allow you to get hurt!” suddenly Yangyang found himself in an incredibly tight hug, pressed against approximately 1.85m of buffy Prince Bishonen. What was breathing even?

“I-it’s okay.” He awkwardly patted some piece of back and god it was hard as steel, pure muscle, this was all too much for Yangyang’s poor heart and head and everything. Was there hope the prince would end up with the court jester? Probably not.

“If you have any questions about Omegas, ask me! I will answer everything!” Yukhei snorted after finally, but also regretfully, letting go and leaving Yangyang to stand on his own two feet again.

His scent was now definitely all over Yangyang and there was no reason to complain other than that it would likely stop him from living his life because it was so damn addictive and distracting.

“Thanks. Are you an Omega or what?”

Yangyang guessed that had been the wrong thing to ask when Yukhei’s eyes slowly but surely got wider and wider and he just stared at Yangyang as if he had just grown an additional pair of ears for what felt like forever.

“What?” he finally breathed and Yangyang guessed he probably wasn’t one. The spicy undertones of Yukhei’s scent were closer to those of Taeyong, who had been, what? An Alpha, right? This was pretty hard, maybe he should try and train his nose?

“Yukhei, who’s this?” someone suddenly asked from behind Yangyang, but Yukhei had yet to recover and didn’t react. Yangyang suddenly remembered he was very much an outsider, very much in human clothing, very much in the middle of wolf territory. The hut might be out the very outskirts, but it was part of what looked like a small village.

He spotted a short guy with a concerned expression, but what made Yangyang be the one concerned was the teeth marks on said guy’s neck, poking out from underneath his collar. That looked absolutely painful!

“Earth to Yukhei?” he was close now and kept glancing between Prince Bishonen and the court jester like there was a reason to be worried about Yangyang and his wet-noodle-like body.

“Do I seem like an Omega?” was the first thing Yukhei squeaked out.

“What? No. Where did that come from?” the new guy asked.

“I asked if he was one. Sorry, I’m new to this,” Yangyang scratched his head. It seemed like he had definitely overstepped. Maybe it was like someone had asked him if he was a girl? That’d be awkward, too.

It didn’t seem all too serious. The new guy immediately broke into laughter, his nose scrunching up, and he slapped Yukhei’s shoulder.

“Oh my, that’s… sorry, but that’s funny. It doesn’t answer my question though.”

“I’m Yangyang,” he supplied, unsure of what to do and still feeling like a clown.

“He’s my mate!” Yukhei said the same moment, at least partially recovered from the shock of the question.

“Ah. Well. That seems promisingly entertaining then. I’m Taeil, I’m Taeyong and Ten’s second in command. Will you be staying?”

Wait, Taeyong was pack leader as well? Interesting.

“Only until the evening,” Yangyang said the same moment Yukhei said:

“Yes!”

Taeil glanced between them and shrugged, “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Have a fun day you two and remember to practice safe sex, lubrication is everything or so I heard!” with that, the guy turned and waltzed past them to the door while Yangyang felt like embarrassment was going to make him explode. His face burnt and heat ran over his back.

He couldn’t even look at Yukhei.

“Don’t worry, we can go your pace, Taeil just likes to tease.” Yukhei suddenly had an arm around him and Yangyang felt his heart going completely crazy now, hoping for the ground to please open, thank you.

“Why would we do… do that?” Yangyang stuttered and let Yukhei take him away from the hut and past more of the same build, but with different details.

“Uh, not? I mean, that’s fine, too, I don’t care. We can wait until you present if you prefer! And Yangyang?” Yukhei suddenly leaned closer and he was right in his face, so close to him he could see individual lashes, but the dark expression made Yangyang freeze like a mouse in the grasp of a snake. His heart definitely had left its place in his chest and now living its best life in his throat, “I’m an Alpha, just so we’re clear.” Yukhei’s voice was soft, but with his eyes staring him down like he planned to eat him, it made a shiver run down Yangyang’s spine.

If he’d ever recover was unsure at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155<)


	3. Chapter 3

Yangyang was a wreck of heart-racing, burning face and body, as well as possible insanity by the time Yukhei had dragged him past four huts and greeted three more people with more or less confused expressions that seemed to want to catch up and ask who on earth was getting the exclusive drag-around-with-Prince-Bishonen, but with the pace Yukhei was going, none of them managed to even get close enough to ask a single question.

He pushed the door to a relatively new-looking hut open and Yangyang was happy to announce that he was already so high on Yukhei’s scent, it didn’t make a difference that it seemed to roll over him like a warm shower.

“Home, sweet home. When I got this, it was basically a rotten mess, I re-did the walls and the roof, but I kept the floor, just polished it. Oh, all the furs and blankets are made by me as well.” Yukhei rattled down, seemingly growing a completely unneeded centimetre with every word.

Admittedly, Yangyang was very impressed, and he carefully looked around to appreciate the handiwork.

“Pretty dope, huh?” he mumbled, remembering his adventures of putting nails into the wall and creating craters instead of new hooks to hang up pictures. His first and last experiences in the world of that particular line of handicraft. His mother had not let him try again and ruin more of the property after.

“I know right?” Yukhei seemed to bathe in the compliment and Yangyang decided he couldn’t feed this ego more or it’d be out of control soon. It was a bit unfair seeing how easily Yukhei showered him in them, but Yangyang also had the confidence of an overcooked serving of rice.

At least he knew how to make dumb comments. The small blessings.

“So, present?” he crossed his arms in an effort to seem like he was on top of this and not a complete wreck and utter mess.

“Right!” Yukhei snapped out of bathing in his own glory and back to cute and eager to please, scrambling past him to pick up a bundle. He hesitated for a moment, like he was getting second-guesses over whether or not his present was actually good, but he got over himself quickly and walked back over with a spring in his step.

“Happy birthday!”

Yangyang carefully accepted the bundle, realising it wasn’t only big, but also reasonably heavy. He didn’t remember ever getting such a big present.

“You know, you didn’t have to get me something so huge?” he muttered, wondering if he should feel bad? He hadn’t even fully meant it when he had demanded presents – Yukheis seemed to have gone all-in.

“Please, only the best for you! I need to show off all my skills, so you can see how good a mate I am.” Yukhei puffed his chest and crossed his arms.

It suddenly felt like Yangyang should be a bit warier. Was this some sort of scenario in which Yukhei lured him in so he could trip him into guilt later and demand thing such as the… the thing they had talked about earlier? What was it, that girls were always warned of? No revealing clothing? Well damn, the only option to be more decent still left was a face mask.

Yangyang glanced up from the bundle, but Yukhei’s doe eyes were on him, wide and expectant, and Yangyang wasn’t even sure what two guys were supposed to do together because there was a big lack of necessary parts going on here, so it’d be fine, right? It was so hard to be suspicious when Yukhei smelt this amazing, was this attentive and cute.

It was probably how kidnappers found victims in the first place, but whatever. YOLO, might as well open this present.

He carefully tugged on the ribbon, which held it all together, and when he opened the fabric used instead of wrapping paper, red fox fur became visible. What the? Yangyang slowly stroked a hand over it, to feel how incredibly soft it was under his fingers. This was real! Holy shit, PETA was going to publicly shame him and have him feathered and tarred on the market square.

“Do you like it? Red is hard to make, but this is close and fox is the best fur there is, it’s just right for you. I tried hard to make it fit you, so, I had Guanheng try it on. If it smells of Omega don’t be weirded out, it was just so it’d fit you okay, he has a similar build as you, and I hope the seams are okay, furs are hard to sew, I had Sicheng help, but I’m not sure it’s perfect, I wanted it to be perfect because you deserve it, but it’s difficult, so I worry, do you like it?” Yukhei didn’t seem to have been breathing and now took a big gasp of air.

Yangyang was at a loss for words and slowly unfolded the piece which turned out to be a coat. It looked like it’d cost at least a billion won. In a best case scenario, he’d be able to pay for this by selling all his organs, including his heart that was currently taking the first place of things to get rid of ASAP.

“What, are you, this, what? You made this?” he stuttered and couldn’t tear his eyes away. It was beautiful, luxurious, and soft.

“Sure did. I caught all the foxes myself, that goes without saying. I saved them up over a few years, for a special occasion.” Yukhei’s voice grew softer as he got more nervous and Yangyang finally tore his eyes for the coat to stare at him.

“For me?” he couldn’t compute. Error 404, contact Windows support.

“Yeah! Of course!”

“But… this is much too precious, you shouldn’t just give it away.”

Yukhei snorted and took the coat from his hands, “Nothing’s too precious for you. Only the best will suffice.” He draped the coat around Yangyang and inspected it. “As I thought, you look amazing!” he muttered and god, Yangyang was sure he was going to pass out.

With shaky fingers, he pulled the furs tighter around himself. They were incredibly warm, but it was rather cold already, in a month or two, this would be perfect. He’d look like the wife of an oil billionaire or something.

“Thank you, I don’t, this is, uh, thank you.”

Yukhei beamed brighter than the sun and then Yangyang found himself being suffocated in another hug and, wow, if his brain had even half as great working ethics as his heart, he might still be able to form words, but here he was, stripped of his greatest asset, which was talking at the speed of light.

Yukhei pulled away and eyed him up and down appreciatively once more and Yangyang was grateful that the coat hid even problem zones as big as the Sahara.

“I want to show you around! I want to introduce you to everyone! There’s so much to see!”

“Sure. Bet nothing could go wrong.” Yangyang awkwardly fiddled with the sleeve. So far, no one had pushed him into any walls, called him dog (the irony), or kicked him. Maybe there was hope?

“Do you not want to?”

“Well, I do, but people usually don’t appreciate me around.”

Yukhei’s brows furred and he carefully trailed his fingers through the hair in Yangyang’s nape. A shiver ran down his spine and he unconsciously leaned into the touch.

“How? You’re so cute and witty.”

“Ha, thanks, it’s my only strength. I guess it has to the with the whole wolf thing,” the millions and millions of different curse words for wolves suddenly had a very different connotation in his head.

“You have many strengths, I’m sure of it. Jaehyun said wolves are treated not so well in the city. It’s weird because when we have city wolves visiting, once a year, they always treat us like something less. We don’t do it in turn if there’s no reason. There’s totally no reason with you and you have me! I’ll protect you!”

The words made Yangyang feel some sort of way.

Not like before, when he had kept expecting someone to jump out and tell him he had been pranked. He was past that. Instead, he felt like hiding behind Yukhei’s broad shoulders and use him to gain strength. He wanted to tell him everything, the issues with his parents, how he didn’t want to work in the factory but didn’t have a choice, and how weirdly attracted he was to him.

Maybe, there’d be a chance to. Right now, Yangyang was sort of curious to meet the people Yukhei lived with.

“Thank you. I’d really like to learn more,” because, essentially, that was how he felt. He was disconnected to this side of himself that he had only found out about, but he didn’t want to stay like this.

Yangyang left the fox coat behind because they could both agree it was ridiculous and much too warm for October. He was pretty sure it’d also be a terrible idea to take this back home because how on earth should he explain this? Then again, he’d have to come clean to his parents after going missing for a whole day, so might as well make a dramatic entrance.

For reasons unknown, Yukhei was holding his hand and were Yangyang still in control of anything, he would have at least talked about this but he just couldn’t find the words and, really, it felt so nice!

Screw it. If Omegas were a thing, then Yangyang could very well pretend to be a princess. If he was being honest, he was already digging the part, getting gifts, being shown around, being told he was pretty? There really were tougher fates to live.

“You need to tell me when something is unclear and also when you already know something. I mean, you didn’t know Omegas were a thing… did you know about Betas and Alphas?”

“I knew about male and female.”

“Oh, okay, makes sense. Anyway, I’ll just explain everything then because I assume if you don’t know the basics, you don’t know anything else either.” Yukhei wasn’t wrong but it still sounded somewhat offensive.

“I feel like a barbarian,” Yangyang muttered. Yukhei tightened his hold on his hands and god, he was really holding hands, fingers intertwined and all and Yukhei’s hands were obscenely big. Yangyang knew what they said about people with big hands…

“The cutest barbarian! Okay, the village was built 12 generations ago and it steadily grew. As you can see, it’s sort of circle-like, to keep the inside safer. We haven’t had many disputes over land in a while, but it happens that packs get into bigger fights. The inside of the circle is safer because it’s harder to reach, so, puppies and Omegas live there. I mean, not like Omegas can’t fight but, uh, it’s a tradition?”

“Wait, so, being an Omega is the equivalent to being a girl? Is that why you were offended? You don’t want to be called weak?”

“Yes. No. I mean. Oh god, Ten’s going to kill me.” Yukhei whispered, looking around like he might materialise somewhere. Yangyang wouldn’t exactly be surprised and he wasn’t sure he could stand up for Yukhei, not if it was Ten.

“Okay, so, it’s just Omegas are generally, not in every case, a bit smaller in build and because of puppy stuff have a higher body-fat-percentage and less muscle mass and stuff, so in the past, they were titled as weak and it was all really tight and oppressive. I wasn’t offended per se, but, like…” Yukhei’s cheeks dusted pink and Yangyang couldn’t hold a grin.

“Okay, okay, I get it, you’re an Alpha and you want me to see you as strong and buff and handsome?” Yangyang was still mainly confused over the whole system but he might have understood the basics. Yukhei’s face turned even darker and Yangyang stored that information away for later use, “And higher body fat? Not, like, on the legs and hips, by any chance?”

“Yeah, thighs, hips, chest.”

“Oh. Well, that might explain that,” Yangyang mumbled to himself, but he didn’t miss Yukhei’s grip getting tighter.

They had moved down a path between huts and arrived at a fireplace that was currently out, but a pot of what looked like the questionable soup from breakfast was still there.

“So, this is the centre of the village. There’s usually more people here in the morning and evening, but now, most would be at work. We still have the autumn harvest and preparations for winter like firewood.”

“What about you?” Yangyang suddenly realised that, of course, living here didn’t come for free. He was probably keeping Yukhei from his work!

“Oh, well, I was on the hunt in the morning and the apple trees will be taken care of by others, I guess.” Yukhei looked a little like these apple trees actually did need his help.

“I don’t want to keep you from work. I think you’re in enough trouble as is for coming. It didn’t sound like that’s allowed,” Yangyang’s heart clenched thinking that Yukhei would still do it. Maybe it was dumb to break the rules, but it seemed somewhat romantic. It was slowly becoming more and more like a fairy tale. Maybe it wasn’t too late to apply for the role of the princess?

Overall, Yangyang wondered if he should have more qualms about suddenly waltzing around holding hands with a guy and dreaming of the prince coming to save him. It had crossed his mind a few times by now, but he was just so drawn to Yukhei, this couldn’t not be right.

“I don’t care. I wanted to see you, dangerous or not.” Yukhei stared right back at him and Yangyang’s heart was back at inappropriate exercises. Oh joy.

“Thanks? Also, I suddenly feel bad for hitting you with my physics book. I was overwhelmed by being complimented.”

“That was so cute. You also look great in green, by the way. I still prefer red, it just looks stunning, but everything looks great when you’re this pretty – I mean, handsome!” Yukhei beamed and Yangyang had a sudden wish for a physics book to hit him.

“It wasn’t an invitation!” he stuttered, feeling his face flush.

“Really? Too bad!” Yukhei tugged on his hand and suddenly Yangyang found himself pressed against the other’s front and Yukhei’s hand was on his chin and OH GOD. Yangyang’s brain decided to do an emergency evacuation like the traitor it was and all he could do, without a functioning computing central, was stare up at the other.

His eyes were perfectly chocolate brown, just like his hair, and so round and wide, framed by thick lashes and brows like straight from a cosmetic commercial. Had Yangyang pointed out his lips before? Because they looked very pillowy and soft and,

“Let’s see. You have really pretty eyes, so dark yet like stars and your…”

“Oh my god, what are you doing?” Yangyang screeched and pushed his whole hand into Yukhei’s face, freeing himself from the embrace – reluctantly, but it was either this or blacking out. Yangyang had made his choice.

He managed to march away until he realised he had no clue where to go and Yukhei had caught up almost immediately.

“But I wanted to make you see all the good things about you!”

“I’m sorry, the compliment-o-metre is used up for the day, no more compliments can be made or I will literally explode.”

Yukhei laughed loudly at that and at least Yangyang still had job security as the court jester, in case the promotion to princess wouldn’t happen, so that was a relief.

It turned out the pack had about as many members as the TVXQ fandom and names flew over Yangyang’s head by introduction number three.

They also ended up helping with the apple trees, which, much to Yangyang’s relief, was very familiar and had little room to fuck up and make more of a fool of himself. He hadn’t spent his childhood helping his mother and father gardening to fail now.

The pack member found it a fun game to make Yangyang guess their status by scent. What started off as more or less a joke and turned into a relatively helpful impromptu lesson.

No one smelt as good as Yukhei, though. Not even close.

Taeyong and Ten had explained there was such a thing as soulmates. It sounded so ridiculously cheesy, Yangyang wasn’t sure if it was to be believed or not, but if there was no one like Yukhei and he continuously called Yangyang his ‘mate’, maybe there was truth to it?

It was well into the afternoon and Yukhei had finished showing him all the parts of the village that were of interest: the fields, the best place at the lake, and while it was genuinely fascinating, Yangyang’s legs were starting to seriously boycott him and his endeavours.

Really, if anything else in his body shared his heart’s determination to not make it to 30, he might be a functioning person overall.

Luckily, a break seemed the next thing on the schedule.

“Here’s my favourite place. It’s amazing at night, you can see many stars. As many as you get to see with Seoul so close. In the summer, you can sun-bathe here as well. Best of all, no one else decided to make it their spot. It can be ours now!” Yukhei beamed and Yangyang swooned.

The place in question was a collection of big boulders, all covered in moss and looking inviting - If you could climb.

Yukhei pulled ahead and tested the moss. “It’s not wet anymore. Do you want to take a break?”

“I do. But there’s no way I’m getting up there.” Yangyang eyed the rocks.

“I’ll pull you up!” Yukhei let go of his hand, which immediately felt cold and lonely and Yangyang crossed his arms to keep it warm.

To no one’s surprise, Yukhei grabbed the edge of the stone and pulled himself up like this was morning gymnastics. Yangyang wondered what his arms looked like under the thick sweater, flexing like this and…

“Come!”

Wow, couldn’t he even be thirsty in peace? The disrespect…

Yangyang carefully stepped as close as he could and reached up so Yukhei could grab his arm.

“Hold my wrist to make the hold tighter.” He instructed and Yangyang did as asked.

The second he had his fingers around the other’s arm, he was pulled off the ground without another warning. He screeched in surprise, but before he could panic or announce he was definitely going to fall, his ass already hit the soft moss and Yukhei grinned at him.

“See? Easy.”

Yangyang grabbed his chest. “Y-yeah. S-super easy.” I really seemed as though his health meant nothing to Yukhei, who continuously made sure normal blood pressure wasn’t happening.

Yukhei let himself drop backwards onto the stone and stared at Yangyang from where he was lying. To say it was unsettling might be understating it, but there was some sort of desensitisation, that had set in at this point, after Yukhei had been giving him intense looks all day.

“Yangyang? Don’t get me wrong, I’m over the moon to have you here, but… why did you come?” he softly asked and Yangyang decided that lying down was a much better choice than sitting, so he did just that, only to find himself pulled against Yukhei and carefully held and life really wouldn’t get much better, would it?

“I didn’t know what to do. My parents… I told you they told me about the whole wolf thing two days ago?”

Yukhei hummed and the sound vibrated in his chest, which was right against Yangyang’s arm, so he felt it.

“But,” He took a deep breath, “they only told me because of the presentation. Weren’t it for that, they would have wanted to keep me oblivious all my life and have me live as a human. They want me to work at the factory and find a girlfriend and they,” there were tears choking him up now, making his voice sound a bit off, and Yangyang should maybe care but he really didn’t, not when Yukhei had him pulled so tightly against himself and gently rubbed his back, “don’t give me a choice. I never realised how much they patronised me. It feels bad. Really bad. I don’t know, I thought of you for the entire time that they went on about how terrible these wolves allegedly were and I just acted on a whim last night. Might not have been the best idea, I think Ten was this close to ripping my throat out.”

A growl ripped from Yukhei and Yangyang startled, not having expected it and not having realised how loud it’d be up close.

“He better keep his hands off you!”

“Yeah, I really think that one was one me, don’t blame him.”

“It doesn’t matter, you’re my mate, you’re the one I will want to keep safe – at fault of not!” Yukhei looked serious and Yangyang felt like he slowly got an understanding of what the word really meant to the wolves. To him. Because he was part of this just as much.

“How does that even really work?” Yangyang suddenly realised he had been merrily living his best life with his personal Prince aka mate but there had been no mention of any dating rules or anything else. Not like Yangyang was an expert on them, but there were some customs usually followed.

Would Yukhei want to get couple t-shirts?

“Well, normally there’s a pack meet in spring where you go and find your mate. But short-cuts are allowed!” Yukhei grinned and suddenly his hand dropped onto Yangyang’s ass and he was about to complain, maybe scream, but Yukhei pulled him closer again and now Yangyang was right face-to-face with him and the view up close rendered him with another emergency evacuation of his brain.

Traitor.

“Are they?” he breathed, feeling like he was saying stuff he had no clue about.

“The scent, right, you noticed it, didn’t you?” Yukhei whispered and Yangyang nodded, “You smell… I can’t even describe it. The only thing it’s missing, that will make it even better, is the undertone of your status. But it’s already the best thing I ever smelt. I need to keep you safe and protected and happy and everything else!”

Yukhei had leaned own and his nose tickled against Yangyang’s neck, but he easily bared it for the other to explore better.

“You’re really cheesy.” He whispered but his heart was telling him cheesiness was not as big a turn-off as he had expected it to be.

Yukhei pulled away and his eyes were darker now, making Yangyang swallow.

“What do I smell like to you?” he asked and Yangyang realised he still had his hand on his ass when he squeezed it a little. Heat ran through his body from the touch and words were impossible to form into sentences past the linguistic ability of a 3-year-old.

“Good, really good, I mean, uh, I don’t even know, no one else smells like this, not that I know. You smell of the trees and soil, but you also smell of ground coffee and chilli. My favourite is that there’s a hint of banana! I really like bananas. I really like your scent! Was that too much information?” Yangyang wanted to knock his head on the stone and hope for a concussion to end this, but he didn’t get a chance to.

“It’s not too much, if anything, it’s too little. I want to know more. Everything! I really don’t want to let you go,” Yukhei whispered and suddenly he was _really_ close and Yangyang’s hopes for a happy ever after of the prince and the court jester seemed more realistic by the second. Then, he felt Yukhei’s lips on his and it seemed like at least parts of his brain would never be saved from the shock.

However, luckily for him, it seemed like his body knew automatically how to somewhat appropriately respond. It was easy to slowly move his lips against Yukhei’s and if he was being honest, Yukhei was having the upper hand here and seemed dead-set on keeping it, so he really made things easy for Yangyang.

He felt himself reach out, needing touch to ground himself, to reconfirm this was actually happening, and he grabbed onto something soft, possibly the sweater.

Yukhei seemed to take that as encouragement and it probably was because if they were never going to stop, Yangyang wouldn’t see any issue with that. He shifted them a bit, until Yangyang was underneath him, still holding onto the sweater, and Yukhei had both of his arms left and right next to his head, trapping him against the stone. Despite being with no way out, he didn’t feel scared or intimidated, he just felt taken care of.

Yangyang let his mouth fall open just a bit. It was pure instincts because his brain sure as hell had fled ship, and then he suddenly felt a tongue against his lips. He easily let Yukhei lick into his mouth, opening it how he wanted to.

It seemed like sparks were running down his spine, making his hair stand on end and sense even the smallest shift of Yukhei, who kept moving his body closer and closer while exploring the best ways to kiss. Yangyang felt him playing against his tongue and tried to somewhat reciprocate but came up short. It didn’t seem to matter, Yukhei was so good at leading, taking the passive part was the most natural thing to do.

A small moan fell from his lips when Yukhei teased over the roof of his mouth and while it should be sloppy and weird, how Yangyang had expected this to be, it was just overwhelmingly good. Yukhei seemed to like his reaction because he repeated it once, twice, and Yangyang felt his body grow impossibly warm and his pants a little too tight as blood rushed south.

Yukhei pulled away a bit and Yangyang had to blink twice to get him back into focus. His eyes were blown and lips shiny and it seemed like his scent had gotten even stronger while kissing.

“You’re so pretty!” Yukhei whispered and caressed a hand over Yangyang’s cheek. Chances were he looked like a complete and utter mess, and there really was no reason why Yukhei’s eyes should be so adoring, but here they were. Yangyang wasn’t going to tell the fairy tale prince to leave when he really wanted to have him.

“Kiss me more!” Yangyang demanded and Yukhei grinned so triumphantly, it seemed like the order was exactly what he had been working for.

“It’ll be my greatest pleasure,” he whispered and cupped Yangyang’s jaw to tilt his head up so he could re-connect their lips and Yangyang sighed in content and let himself be kissed because it seemed like Yukhei didn’t even want him to do any work here.

He felt his hand slowly move over his torso, travelling lower and if Yangyang’s brain hadn’t ditched him, he would have realised where Yukhei was going, but as it stood, he jerked in surprise when Yukhei was suddenly touching the front of his jeans that he was straining against and he broke the kiss with a gasp,

“What are you doing?”

Immediately, his hand was gone and Yangyang almost groaned in frustration despite clearly having voiced protest a second ago.

“We don’t have to, sorry, you just felt so tempting, I couldn’t hold back.” Yukhei’s eyes were almost black now and Yangyang dropped his gaze and realised Yukhei’s own pants were tented just as much as his own. Or, well, not just as but kind of a lot more.

“I don’t know?” Yangyang whispered. Weren’t you supposed to wait for a date? Stuff? Yukhei was right, though, it was tempting, incredibly so. It might be his scent, but it just felt right, Yangyang was curious to know how Yukhei’s skin felt, after having seen it so much, “I don’t want you to be disappointed. Or regret it.” The reality, that no one had ever even seen Yangyang naked since he had learnt how to shower himself at, like, six, was suddenly very present.

Meanwhile, Yukhei surely had done this before, right? Yangyang knew it was dumb, but he couldn’t help feeling jealous.

“No! What? Why should I be disappointed? How could I regret anything?” Yukhei was right on top of him again, his words sounding a lot more grounded than Yangyang felt right now, “You’re my mate! There’s no one as perfect as you out there. But we shouldn’t do anything if you feel like that. It wouldn’t be right. Sex is supposed to be fun.” Yukhei pressed a gentle kiss to Yangyang’s burning cheek and sat up.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts – laughable, there was barely anything left to gather other than crazy – and then slowly sat up to sit next to Yukhei. Yangyang grimaced and readjusted himself in his jeans, so it didn’t feel like someone was stomping on his dick.

“Thanks.” He muttered, still feeling awkward for essentially giving them blue balls, but also endlessly relieved.

“It’s a matter of course! Can I still hug you, or do you need to avoid touch to go soft?”

“I…” Yangyang didn’t exactly discuss the needs and not-needs of his dick with anyone normally. There also hadn’t been any chance to conduct a study to find out. “I guess it’s fine.”

Yukhei immediately had an arm around him and despite being too tall, he folded himself to bed his head on Yangyang’s shoulder. He might be hearing Yangyang’s heart on its way to break the Guinness World Record for fastest drumming.

“I think we have to go back soon-ish. I really wish you could stay, but I know your parents must miss you. I just wished I could keep you forever already.”

“I’d prefer to not go, too,” Yangyang muttered. He wasn’t eager to see either of the two.

“So, once it’s all official, would you want to live with me? I mean, I just assumed, but I get you city wolves have other things to do back home.” Yukhei sounded deeply wounded and Yangyang chuckled.

“You’re so cute when you try to pretend it doesn’t bother you.”

“No! Anything you want to do, I don’t want to stand in your way!”

Yangyang grabbed his sweater tighter and pulled himself impossibly closer.

“Thank you. But there’s really nothing back there I’d miss. On the contrary. The day can’t come fast enough. There’s nothing to miss.”

“Well, I’m sure your parents. But you could visit them, that shouldn’t be an issue, just slip away from border patrol.”

“No, I don’t think I’ll want to.”

Yukhei was quiet but Yangyang could hear the wheels turning in his head and he sat back up.

“I guess I can’t really understand how you must feel for having been kept in the dark about this. I didn’t even consider there might be a wolf that didn’t know they were one out there. That’s why I never explained anything. Sorry. But… They’re not hurting you, right?” he suddenly asked, voice hard and eyes dark, “I don’t care what way, they don’t tell you you’re worthless and they don’t put a hand on you, do they?”

“No! No, they just… they won’t let me decide and they won’t want me to live like this, you know? They planned my life for me and want me to work in the factory when that’s not what I want. I don’t want to keep living in the village where people call me a dog and I get beaten up for walking down the street.”

Yukhei growled again and Yangyang started just as badly as the first time. Arms were suddenly around his waist, tickling on his stomach a bit, and Yukhei’s front pressed against his back.

“I suddenly don’t want to give you back. You will have to hide somewhere.”

“I’d really rather not get Ten and Taeyong angry, I think I’ll die from fear if they so much as glared at me.”

“Yeah…” Yukhei muttered and shuddered, “Well, I’ll definitely keep visiting then, to make sure nothing happened to you! If you go to the village… I’ll go with you. No one is allowed to hurt you!” his nose nuzzled against Yangyang’s face from behind, brushing against his ear and he leaned heavily back against Yukhei, but, of course, Prince Bishonen didn’t just topple over from a bit of wet noodle pushing him around.

“I’m sure no one will be confused by a naked guy, looking like he escaped a top-model agency, walking down the street.”

“I have clothes. I’m wearing clothes literally right now!” Yukhei whined and pressed his nose tighter into the crook of Yangyang’s neck and shoulder, making him chuckle from both his tone and the tickling.

Yangyang felt like a truck had hit him twice then he finally reached the fence of his parents’ home. He was hopefully at least getting a set of honey thighs out of all the walking he had done over the last four days, but right now, all there was, was misery.

It was further deepened over having to leave the chocolate brown wolf on the treeline, where it kept whimpering.

He turned once more and made a shooing motion, and the other wolf bit Yukhei’s ear to finally drag him away.

Yangyang sighed and started at the bits of light peeking through the curtains.

He fell into the strawberries and weird nausea started rising in his throat.

What was he going to say? What were his parents going to say?

He glanced over his shoulder.

Presentation could wait for months, possibly even up to year from now. Until then, his home was here. Pack rules were old and sacred. Yangyang knew he wasn’t above the law and there was no one harming him here.

He dragged his feet over the damp grass and to the stairs of the backdoor, where his slippers waited for him.

Just as he slowly raised a leg to take the first step, the door was ripped open.

“Yangyang!”

His father all but fell down the stairs and Yangyang was sad to announce himself to not be a Prince Bishonen, so he almost hit the ground when he was attacked with a hug.

“Oh moon, I was so scared! _We_ were so scared, oh my little baby boy,” his voice broke off in a sob and Yangyang slowly closed his arms around him.

He had expected many things, but not… this.

“Oh heaven, Yangyang!” he looked up to find his mother in the door, her hair in a messy bun, wearing no make-up where she usually wasn’t seen without.

“Are you okay? Where were you? Did you get hurt?” he father pulled away and thoroughly scanned his face but Yangyang saw his nose twitch. There was no way to miss Yukhei’s scent all over him. Yukhei and the forest.

“Come inside, you two, the neighbours don’t have to know.” His mother softly suggested and stepped down to pull her two men back inside.

The door closed much differently than those of the huts had, and Yangyang stared at the ground, shoulders hunched, waiting for his punishment to come.

It didn’t happen, though.

“Yangyang, we’re sorry,” his mother started.

“So very sorry,” His father chimed in.

“Please don’t ever leave again.”

“Don’t you know how dangerous the forests are?”

“You smell of wolf, you must have been attacked!”

“You could have gotten seriously hurt, worse even.”

“You realised it’s horrible out there, didn’t you?”

“No,” Yangyang raised his head. His parents stared at him like he had lost his mind.

He might have lost at least 50% of his brain cells because of Yukhei, but he was quite sure about this.

“I will go back. I found my mate. I will go back to him and I will live with him because his pack accepts me how I am. They showed me more compassion that all of the villagers combined all my life in just one day.”

“No, no, Yangyang, you don’t understand!” his father shook his head.

“It’s the Alpha who scent marked you, isn’t it? He’s already treating you as his property before you even presented!” his mother stepped closer and grabbed his sweater, smelling it.

“No, he’s not. We spent the day, that’s it.” Yangyang ripped free from her grasp.

“Alphas are always like that. You will be locked in a hut where you will be forced to serve him and have his children while he runs around all day,” there were tears in his father’s eyes now and Yangyang’s chest was suddenly cold and tight.

“Is that why you left?” he whispered. He remembered Yukhei’s explanation, so the words made sense in his head. Seeing his father look so downright terrified, together with the sweet and floral scent he finally recognised as what it was, Yangyang thought maybe there had been a valid reason for why his parents had left him in the dark.

“Yes! You don’t understand, Yangyang. You only see the bad parts, which, admittedly, there are, but the village is so safe and so good to us.”

“Well, the pack my mate is from isn’t like that.”

“They’re all like that!”

“No! No, they’re not! It’s literally led by an Omega, I met countless of them, doing woodwork and harvesting and hard work, right next to Betas and Alphas. You can lock me up to try and keep me here, but then you’re no better than these wolves you hate.”

Both his parents were quiet, mouths set in tight lines.

They didn’t believe him.

As much as they didn’t believe him, they also seemed to not want to stoop on the same level as the pack they hated. Yangyang wasn’t proud, but he felt like he had kept himself safe by drawing the comparison and throwing those words at them.

Not like he would have let them lock him away. There wasn’t only one person that couldn’t live without seeing the other and was willing to break rules.

“So? The punishment wasn’t harsh enough to keep you in, huh?” he leaned over the fence with a grin and petted over the chocolate brown wolf’s head.

He pulled away when it started to shift and a moment later, Yukhei stood in its place and grabbed him to press a kiss to his cheek.

Yangyang laughed and let him nuzzle against his neck.

“I have laundry duty for a full moon cycle, as well as fireplace cleaning duty. It’s terrible,” Yukhei announced and pulled back.

“Well, my parents basically told me I’m insane for wanting to get mated to you and they would never support this, so guess we both had a great day yesterday.”

“Does that mean I get to steal you away?” Yukhei’s eyes glinted and Yangyang couldn’t stop himself from giggling like the brainless idiot he had turned into.

“Of course. I was thinking Rapunzel-style. I’ll grow my hair out.”

“I’m sure it’ll look amazing! Anything would look amazing on you.” Yangyang bashfully nudged Yukhei’s chest a the words, but he had somewhat gotten used to the sweet compliments.

As mentioned before, there were tougher fates.

It didn’t matter what his parents tried. Yangyang waited by the fence for Yukhei, and Yukhei showed up. Once, during early November, he had smelt a bit stronger, and said he wasn’t going to make it for a few days because of his rut, and then asked for a t-shirt Yangyang had worn.

Yangyang wasn’t sure how to feel about being the material for brainless jacking-off-sessions, but he also realised he was the biggest hypocrite for questioning it.

With a burning face, had he waddled into the house and pulled a red t-shirt he had happened to have worn two days before and not yet laundered from the bin.

Yukhei had immediately buried his nose in the material and beamed.

Earth had not opened for Yangyang to be swallowed, which had been very rude and unappreciated, so, he had still been there when Yukhei had finally shown up again five days later, without the t-shirt.

His parents all but tried to drag him to the factory but Yangyang kicked, screamed, and bit, and they had to give up again and again.

They weren’t really talking anymore, other than sometimes when there was a comment that Yangyang should shower and get rid of the stench.

When December became too cold to lean over the fence in the nude, even for Yukhei, he finally started bringing clothes and Yangyang generously supplied an extra-blanket from the house, so they could still sit just behind the fence, away from sight, and talk for hours, joke around, or make out.

“Humans really do make some pretty things,” Yukhei mumbled while flipping through the atlas Yangyang had brought from inside.

“I told you about the older lady that used to babysit me when I was little?”

“Of course. Was it hers? It smells old,” Yukhei hesitated and looked up. Yangyang forgot his eyes were a drowning hazard and proceeded to forget about answering but just stared into the endless pools of chocolate and thick lashes.

The issue was, that Yukhei seemed fully unbothered by being ignored in favour of blatant staring. Yangyang suspected he even encouraged it, however, the other made the mistake of closing the book when turning towards Yangyang, and he finally snapped out of indulging in being a fool in love.

“Yes! It was her son’s when he had gone to school. She gave it to me to study when I was eight or so.”

“I can show you where the pack meeting in spring takes place,” Yukhei suggested and Yangyang immediately straightened up.

“Please! How do you usually get there? Do you go by bus?”

Yukhei started laughing as he flipped the pages.

“You’re the cutest. We go by foot, I don’t want to step on any of these hell machines, they’re terrifying.”

Yangyang stared at Yukhei for at least five seconds of blue screen in his head, then he cooed and squeezed the other’s cheek.

“You’re scared of cars? That’s so adorable!”

Yukhei flushed a soft pink and Yangyang leaned closer to see every detail of it, committing it to memory when it was usually the other way around between them.

“I just don’t trust them. How would you want to sit on something so gruesome?”

“Well, because it’s convenient! We should take public transportation together sometime. It’d be so romantic, imagine, gum stains and bad graffiti, as well as the stench of B.O. around us!”

“If you want to, I’d do it in heartbeat!” Yukhei straightened up and Yangyang let go of his cheek, “But I’m sure the other packs would die in a laughing fit if anyone showed up in a motor vehicle.”

Motor vehicle? Was Yukhei going to start speaking how it’d be expected from a fairy tale prince?

“See here? There’s a huge forest right here, it’s been no pack’s land ever since the old gods left this earth because it used to be their territory, or so they say. It’s really, really beautiful, in a spooky and mysterious way. No one cares for the trees there, no one harvests, so, it’s all just growing how nature wants it to.”

“Wait, don’t all forests do that?” Yangyang stared at where Yukhei was pointing somewhere North of Daegu.

He suddenly felt a kiss on his cheek and looked up in puzzlement to see Yukhei stare down at him as if he had just found the secret to eternal life or something similarly exhilarating – not… like… a Yangyang.

“We pull out all the fallen trees, and we also check those still standing are healthy on a regular basis. If there are parasitic weeds, we make sure to get rid of them before they can spread. We live off the forest, it needs to be healthy to be able to sustain such a big pack. If the forest dies, so do the wolves living in it, pretty simple. So, no, it doesn’t just grow.”

Yangyang traced a finger over the seam on the side of Yukhei’s trousers. They were made from leather, it was soft and well-worn.

“So, it’s more like a garden?”

“Yeah! Gardens need the same treatment to bring good harvests.”

Yangyang nodded, happy to have properly understood.

“So, I guess it never came up, but what do you do at that pack meeting? Have you been?” Yangyang understood it that he wouldn’t have to go because he had already found Yukhei by chance.

Was it like those church meetings the old lady had always spoken so fondly of? Where they threw all the unmarried youth of the village into a big room to “mingle”?

“Yeah, I’ve been this spring, all unmated wolves go, I mean, it’s expected but you also want to go, obviously you’d want to meet your mate!”

He frowned and Yangyang guessed he hadn’t been happy over going home on his own.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be! I didn’t mean it like that! You still came to see me!” Yukhei assured and pushed the book aside to grab Yangyang instead, pressing a kiss to his lips.

Yangyang quickly checked, but the fence was hiding them away from curious neighbours’ view, so, he let his eyes fall shut and bathed in Yukhei’s warmth and scent keeping him safe under the blanket.

Even after growing a little accustomed, Yangyang still got almost intoxicated having it so potently around himself, feeling Yukhei’s tongue explore all the most sensitive spots in his mouth while holding him carefully.

It might not be ‘manly’, but Yangyang had realised he absolutely loved being treated like he was made from glass in these moments.

Yukhei pulled away a little and Yangyang felt his breath against his lips, hot and hurried. Knowing that he wasn’t the only one whose heart turned into the least successful Olympic athlete ever doing this made it even better.

“So, if this were the pack meet and you would have found me, what would we do next?” Yangyang whispered. He threaded his fingers into the hair in Yukhei’s nape, that was only cut, never shaved how his own usually was.

Yukhei’s hands on his hips tightened.

“Yukhei, that hurts!” Yangyang used his free hand to push on the bruising grip.

“S-sorry.” Yukhei closed his eyes and let go, “Uh, so, like, that depends. Just, uh, whatever we’d want to. It’s kinda expected to do the, uh, the claiming, so. But it’s also after presentation and all, so.”

Yangyang eyed Yukhei’s face thoroughly, but he was distracted from forgetting to trying to read him to find out what “whatever” was and instead did the 104809337th analysis of how handsome exactly he was. Yukhei pulled him closer, back to being gentle about it, and reconnected their lips.

Yangyang sighed against him and tried to get comfortable with his dick slowly hardening in his sweatpants and having to turn at a weird angle.

Yukhei gave him a break from trying acrobatics by moving down over his jaw and over the line of Yangyang’s neck, which he easily gave him access to.

He knew it was the place where he smelt the strongest because so did Yukhei, but his own need to eradicate the left-over brain cells in his head by overdosing on chilli with banana wasn’t as strong as Yukhei’s.

Today, it wasn’t the gently nuzzling and persisted rubbing over his skin it usually was. Instead, Yukhei kept kissing him, feathery and small at first, but slower and more possessively the longer Yangyang held still.

It sent shivers down his spine, a mixture of nervousness and excitement to find out what Yukhei had in store and how it would feel. Usually, everything he did put Yangyang into some sort of deliriousness.

He felt the wetness of his tongue against the crook of his neck, and then Yukhei started to suck on the skin and Yangyang couldn’t hold the moan that fell from his lips at how it made his head spin and his blood rush south.

He wasn’t even sure where that had come from, but Yukhei seemed more than satisfied with it and Yangyang really was going to be driven into insanity here, also, his dick was demanding attention.

When Yukhei finally pulled away, after possibly leaving the entire left side of his neck red and purple, Yangyang couldn’t see straight anymore (which was ironic, seeing how very gay all this was). He did see how dark, downright black, Yukhei’s eyes were and he suddenly felt like there should be something that could be done in this situation.

His heart was definitely putting on all the muscle Yangyang’s arms, legs, and torso was lacking, beating at concerning speed yet again when he slowly pushed his hand over to where he knew Yukhei’s legs were.

He felt the soft leather under his fingers and before he could chicken out, he pushed it up on the inside of the thigh, stopping just below the critical territory.

Yukhei very clearly had gotten the message, it was sort of hard to miss, obviously. His eyes were wide and his nose flared as he seemed to consider what to do.

“Are you, like…” Yangyang’s face had been blushed already, but it grew hotter when he tried to ask.

Yukhei grabbed where his hand was still resting on his thigh and pulled it up.

Yangyang forgot breathing was a thing.

It should probably be a lot more eye-opening a moment than it was. It wasn’t. He was just really, really turned on and so was Yukhei, apparently. If he hadn’t been, Yangyang might have had to question the whole soulmates thing again or demand a refund for his Prince Bishonen.

He didn’t wait for Yukhei to take the lead again but carefully felt the shape through the material.

In theory, Yangyang really should know his way around here. He was incredibly well-acquainted with his own dick.

“Oh fuck,” Yukhei whispered when Yangyang stroked up with the finesse of a teenager dealing with their first hard-on. The husky voice went right to his own dick, making it ache in neglect.

This was not going to happen. His arm was definitely going to fall off, possibly also his dick. Yukhei was going to realise Yangyang was a lost cause and…

He suddenly felt hands on his ass, but just for a moment, then, they were under his thighs and Yukhei pulled him closer until Yangyang was in his lap, straddling him.

It felt weirdly vulnerable, even though he suddenly had the edge height-wise.

“Come here,” Yukhei whispered and pulled him down to kiss and Yangyang forgot he had his legs spread and they were literally behind their backyard. He got lost in feeling Yukhei’s tongue play against his own, his scent making him light-headed, and then Yukhei pulled him even closer by his hips and Yangyang gasped when he felt his dick get trapped between their bodies, just enough pressure on it and the soft material of his pants making it so easy to rub against Yukhei.

Yangyang had to break away from the kiss because it was overwhelming and Yukhei rolled his hips up a little, so his own dick pushed against Yangyang’s and it felt so good he had to grab onto Yukhei’s shoulders to keep himself somewhat upright.

“Like it?” Yukhei groaned and Yangyang heard himself whimper rather embarrassingly while trying to get more.

“Yeah,” god, yes, this was amazing. He dropped his head against Yukhei’s shoulder, deeply inhaling his scent while they rocked against each other steadily and each touch made Yangyang’s skin burn hotter, his brain more scrambled, and his ability to remember his own name shrink.

It was pretty embarrassing, but he came in his own pants, gasping Yukhei’s name like a complete lunatic.

It also seemed like the bliss of his orgasm stripped any remaining sense of shame because when Yukhei pushed his hand into his pants to finish himself off after Yangyang had started to turn into a sack of sand on top of him and shivering in the oversensitivity, he didn’t hesitate to follow and grab around Yukhei’s hand.

“You’re dick’s really big,” Yangyang mumbled. He wasn’t even doing anything, he just held onto Yukhei’s hand like dead weight, but the other kept grunting.

“Y-you like th-that?” Yukhei pressed out and Yangyang let his hand drop to wrap around the base, knowing it felt good for him personally.

“I’m jelly,” Yangyang slobbily pressed a kiss under Yukhei’s ear and maybe one of those things finally did it, because he moaned beautifully and Yangyang felt him twitch under his fingers and… grow?

Yukhei seemed unconcerned, he erratically stroked himself through his high and Yangyang just stared at the fly of the leather pants, hiding what he felt going on underneath it. His fingers weren't even touching anymore from how thick the base had become.

It seemed Yukhei was slowly coming down because he halted his movements and took a couple of deep breaths before finally going slack against the fence.

Meanwhile, Yangyang had found back the little amount of body control he had and supported his own weight.

“Want me to let go?” he softly asked, still fascinated with whatever had just happened.

“Noooo!” Yukhei whined and grabbed his wrist to hold his hand there, “feels so nice to have your hand on my knot!”

“Knot? Hey! Don’t fall asleep, I’ll leave you out here!”

“’mnotsleep’n.”

So, apparently, Alphas had knots. And Omegas got wet. And Yangyang had mysteriously survived the whole talk that had seemed like the normal conversation to have over coffee and cookies to Yukhei but had pushed him to the border of imploding from embarrassment.

At least, now he knew.

To say Yangyang showered, once he had gotten back inside, would have been an understatement. He exfoliated at least two layers of skin, and then some, until he looked like a freshly cooked lobster.

His parents didn’t seem to notice anything… off. Or, if they did, didn’t voice any complaints.

Yangyang still felt deeply ashamed over having chosen behind the fence of the backyard for his first sexual experience. Definitely not the material fairy tales were made of. Usually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	4. Chapter 4

“I’m pretty sure it’ll snow,” Yukhei announced, sticking his nose into the air.

“You can smell that? Or are you just bullshitting me?” Yangyang was ready to accept Yukhei could now predict the weather, really, if Yukhei said he could walk on clouds, then he probably could.

It might be too late for salvation for Yangyang, but whatever. He had made peace with never returning to being a functional being again.

“Just a feeling. Did you practice meditation?”

“The important word in that sentence is practice. I don’t feel like I’m making any progress, though.” Yangyang sighed.

Yukhei pouted and kissed his ear. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you on all fours sooner than later.”

“Sounds promising.”

“Does it?” Yukhei leaned closer, and his voice dropped with sweetness, which only now let Yangyang recognise the implication.

“Shut up! We’ve already been indecent behind the garden fence for more times than I want to admit!” he hissed and shoved Yukhei’s face away.

“Not enough times, though!” Yukhei whined and grabbed Yangyang’s waist to avoid being pushed away, “I keep thinking of how it’ll be, you know, once we’re officially mated. And not only the sex! What you’d like to do and stuff”

“Not only? What the?” Yangyang screeched and repeatedly hit Yukhei, knowing he was essentially doing zero damage with his matchstick arms hitting raw muscle. God, he really liked holding onto these arms while…

“Well, I thought about sex, too! I’m just being honest here,” Yukhei whined, much too open about the topic, but what else was new? Despite the lack of novelty, Yangyang’s face turned into the equivalent of the aftermath of a tomato-soup fight and his heart pounded at 10000 miles an hour.

“Oh my god, please stop talking! As for the rest, we talked about this before, I will try everything I get the chance to and I’m sure I’ll figure it out,” Yangyang stopped unsuccessfully letting his embarrassment out on Yukhei’s marble-like body and instead behaved like a mature adult.

“Still, I want you to feel welcome. I’m so excited to see you shift! I wonder how your coat will look like with how pretty your hair is.”

Yukhei ran a hand through the different shades of grey that seemed to not really have a pattern other than ‘a mess’.

“I feel like I’ll never do it,” Yangyang had been meditating and trying to ‘find his wolf’ for weeks now without any progress. Weren’t it for multiple different confirmations that he actually was supposed to be able to do it, he would have long thrown the towel and declared himself crazy for even thinking this was a thing.

Maybe his wolf was annoyed with being stuck with a total dumb-ass and thus not showing its face.

Yangyang couldn’t even blame it, could he?

“No, no, no, I know for sure you will! I might just not be the best person to teach you. Jaehyun will visit in January, when he has a break from school. I’ll ask him for tips, he’s super bad at shifting, too. I mean. He got better. Not like there’s any shame in it…”

“It’s okay, let’s call it how we see it.” Yangyang sighed. He had heard of Jaehyun before, he had actually heard of everyone by now and the names slowly started to stick in his head even though he didn’t have faces to put to many of them.

He was 100% in for some awkward interactions once he moved to the pack and didn’t remember who was who, he was already looking forward to offending his new neighbours. The worry over that didn’t even nearly weigh as heavily as his utter excitement to get out of the four walls that felt like they were closing in on him tighter every day, trapping him in a life he didn’t want when he knew there was so much more out there.

“Oh by the way, did I tell you the cards said Kun was having another girl?” Yukhei suddenly announced.

Obviously, there wouldn’t be any ultra-sounds in the middle of the forest, but it didn’t sound all that reliable a method.

“And the cards are to be trusted?”

“Of course! They’re right at least 50% of the time.” Yukhei laughed.

“Wow, what are the chances?” Yangyang rolled his eyes playfully. When Taeyong had said they had proof, he had meant the calm Omega Yukhei had just mentioned. He hadn’t been showing when Yangyang had seen him, but he had only been in the third moon. Month. God, Yangyang was starting to talk weird, too. Even back then, there had been something about his scent that had made it obvious things were off.

If that hadn’t been enough, there also had been a toddler that had darted between him and another man, looking like a weird copy of both of them.

“Do you want to have puppies?” Yukhei suddenly turned his head, eyes big and round, almost sparkling.

“Me?”

“Yes! I mean, if you turned out an Omega, obviously.”

The idea of mini-Yukheis rolling over the grass, how the mini-Kun-Doyoung had, played in Yangyang’s head like the annoying commercials in the supermarket, cheesy music and soft filter to oversaturate the colours and all.

“Yeah, I guess…”

“I mean, not like I wouldn’t like you just as much as a Beta or Alpha, but mini-Yangyangs would be so cute!” Yukhei sounded like he was experiencing the same sort of fever-dream, only with different toddlers rolling around.

If there were kids to be had, hopefully, they’d turn out to be tiny Prince Bishonen and Princesses Bishoujos, rather than court jesters, but Yangyang guessed parents didn’t really see just how ugly their kids were anyway, so it would hardly matter.

“Tell me more about the pack, I don’t want to miss so much,” he whined.

“But I don’t care about the pack, I want to hear about you.”

“Well, I stood up, brushed my teeth, had breakfast, brushed again, and then I read and stared out of the window like a hero from a poem of the romanticism period in Europe. Finished.”

“I love when you sound so smart.”

“Yukhei, my life is literally boring as fuck, I demand entertainment!”

“I love when you’re so bratty.”

Yangyang tried to squirm out of Yukhei’s embrace but there was no escaping it and he really wanted to be moody and annoying, but when Yukhei just grinned at him, he found he couldn’t stay that way.

He was about to lean in and kiss him, just because he could and there apparently was nothing that’d chase Yukhei away, when a yell interrupted him.

“Yangyang!”

“Fuck, what?” he scrambled to get upright and free from Alpha touch, not at all about to grow hard and let his mate stroke him through his sweatpants, nope.

“Yangyang, come back inside right this second!” he heard steps from the house.

“Is that your mother? The Beta?” Yukhei asked, not willing to let him go when, clearly, there was a mother coming for their asses.

“Fuck, oh my god, you need to leave. Now!”

“But I want to meet her.”

“She already hates you, there, saved you the trouble.”

Yangyang jumped to his feet and pushed a hand on Yukhei’s head to keep him down.

“What is it?” he snarled.

“Yangyang, I know you’re living out your rebellious phase right now and your father and I are more than accommodating but there are limits to everything. You’re going to come back inside and have dinner with u-“

“Sorry, we must have lost track of time.” Yangyang felt dread run down his spine when he heard Yukhei from next to him, not pushing away his hand, but just raising high enough to peek over the fence and speak.

His mother’s eyes widened and the words got stuck in her throat.

Only for a second, though, then, she was screaming.

A familiar reaction, but it felt entirely different when it was her rather than Yangyang himself.

“So. This is awkward,” he muttered, “Uh, this is Yukhei, this is my mum. Okay, now you can go home, please.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Yangyang’s mum.”

Now, more than ever, would be really amazing timing for that passage to hell to open up spontaneously, please?

“Yangyang, get your hand off him, that’s an Alpha!” his mother hissed and Yangyang slowly removed his hand, unsure if she had genuinely not noticed that hands on heads were the last thing to worry about.

“It’s fine, he can do whatever, he’s my mate, after all!” Yukhei announced happily and his mother’s face fell more. If there were questions where Yangyang had gotten his clown-visuals from, this was the place to look, “I’m sure you understand that all I want is to keep him safe and happy forever.”

“Safe and happy as in locked away and serving.”

“No, no, we don’t do that anymore, haven’t for a long time. That’s just terrible!”

“You’re just saying this to lure him in, so he comes willingly.”

“Mum, I’m not some dumb sheep.”

“Yeah, I mean, it does sound rather offensive. I really just want you to know that I want to treat Yangyang right. That you won’t have to worry at all, and that he can visit whenever. If he wants to. It's not like you lose him unless you chase him away.”

His mother's eyes were slowly softening, and maybe it was because Yukhei was still on his knees, showing submission and vulnerability – but also mercifully hiding all that muscle.

She didn’t say a word and Yangyang quietly saw Yukhei off.

She was silent during dinner.

For three days.

His father sometimes asked him about his day, but other than that, it was awkward. More awkward. Might as well make that his life-motto.

Yangyang wasn’t sure how that could have fucked it up when Yukhei had seemed to disarm all her arguments, but maybe it had been too easy?

Yukhei had asked him if he had made a mistake, the day after.

His honest answer had been that he wasn’t sure but he also didn’t really care because his mother had already been weird before she had encountered the Alpha.

It was weird, after years of adoring them and feeling like they did no wrong, he suddenly had lost most of the respect he had held for his parents. He couldn’t understand their reasoning and their narrowmindedness.

He wished he could. He wished he knew why his mother was now not talking to him anymore at all.

But no one told him anything.

So, Yangyang was still in the dark when he woke up in the middle of the night four days after the encounter on the fence, feeling like he hadn’t drunken in years and someone had turned the heating to a million degrees.

He groaned and shifted under his blanket, planning to get up and drink, but as his body moved and he realised how sticky with sweat he was, he noticed something else.

Between his legs, particularly, high up between his legs.

Carefully, he rolled to his back and felt them move weirdly, slippery and…

He couldn’t hold a whine and had to screw his eyes shut to re-focus.

Presentation! Heat! He was in heat!

It had been a long time coming, but it still was overwhelming and he felt wholly unprepared. Why was he like this? He had sort of expected to be an Omega, really, why hadn’t he asked more questions?

Oh, right, because it was embarrassing as fuck.

He managed to get out of bed and turned on the lamp on his bedside table.

He flung his shirt on the ground and stumbled into his bathroom, getting himself a cup of water, and another, and another. His dick was hard in his pyjama bottoms and they were gross and wet, especially on his ass, that felt absolutely wrong and weird, but also natural and right.

It was very confusing.

Somewhat happy with re-hydrating himself despite the circumstances, he stalked back into his room, but he couldn’t even walk properly, the sensation of his slick making it so awkward.

The only thing on his mind, other than the incoherent screeching in panic, that he tried hard to ignore, was Yukhei. Yukhei’s scent, Yukhei’s warmth, Yukhei’s strong arms, everything.

He needed him. Right this very second.

He looked out the window and there were thick white flakes slowly falling to the ground, that was already coated in a layer of white, visible under the moon shining above.

Just his luck.

There was absolutely no way he’d get his over-heated, sweaty, generally awkward and overwhelmed ass even near the border, much less that deep into the territory. But especially not when it was snowing on top.

Thanks for nothing.

He thought he could just sleep it off and buried himself back in bed, but arousal burnt under his skin like invisible hands caressing it.

The blanket was suddenly unbearable and even his pyjama bottoms were too much, so he kicked them away and tried to lie on his side, touching his bed as little as possible.

Still not enough to feel even remotely relaxed.

Something needed to happen about this burning need and if there was no Alpha around to do so, he’d do it himself.

He closed his eyes and wrapped his fingers around his cock. Immediately, his thoughts went to how it felt to feel a bigger hand on it, only masked by a thin layer of fabric. The memory of the scent was in his nose like Yukhei was here in this very moment. It made his head spin and the heat on his skin grow infinitely hotter.

He needed him! He needed Yukhei.

Yangyang breathed heavily while his hand moved up and down almost on its own, desperately chasing release. He came with a small sob, staining the sheets, but too lost in his own head to care.

It wasn’t enough. He felt more slick collect on his ass and he let himself fall onto the bed, disregarding how uncomfortable it was against his burning skin, and opened his legs from himself, knowing that was what he wanted.

He had tried to go there before, a few times. He had stolen olive oil from the kitchen, but in the end, he had only ever massaged over the rim and had used how good that felt to get himself to cum harder than he could without.

Now, there was no worry over pain holding him back, only blind need.

The slick was warm on his fingers, and let them slide so much easier than the oil had. His muscle was already soft and he just did the first thing that came to mind, whatever felt good. He circled them around his hole and couldn’t hold the soft moans. It felt amazing, but he felt like he could do more. He pushed his ring finger inside and without even doing anything else, he was coming again, his dick not even fully hard , just a shaky, dry orgasm that was almost too much, but seemed to be enough to make him somewhat lucid again.

So.

That was a thing now?

Yangyang managed to fall asleep after that and when he woke up again, it was light outside and his father was next to his bed with a tray of food.

“Hey.” He whispered and Yangyang managed to pull the blanket over the _situation_ quickly and hoped no one had seen anything. Oh god, why didn’t the man fucking knock, this was humiliating! His father seemed grossly unbothered, “Congrats, Yangyang,” he kneeled down and carded his fingers through the sweaty mess that could be interpreted to be hair, how he had done when Yangyang still had been little.

“Thanks,” Yangyang rasped, sounding like he had 50 years of smoking on his vocal cords.

“You know I love you to the moon and back.”

“Thanks, dad, great way of showing it.”

“I know. I was blinded by my own fear. When I realised you had an Alpha mate, I was sure you’d be an Omega – like me. The pack where your mum and I came from, they treated me… terribly. They treated her only a little better and when we fell in love, they wouldn’t let us ever pursue it. I couldn’t bear the thought of my baby having to grow up like that, of potentially be treated as terribly if you turned out to be something “useless”, which is why we left and never want to return.

“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you. So is your mother, but she’s the one who had to watch me get hurt, it’s even harder on her. We didn’t mean to patronise you, we only wanted to keep you safe, but I guess we overshot. I’m sorry, Yangyang.”

Because being a sweaty, sticky mess wasn’t already embarrassing enough with his father right there, Yangyang started to tear up.

Finally, this was the explanation he had wished for.

And what better way to show that, than starting to sob? Excellent life choices were being made – yet again.

“Dad, I just… I know he’s not like that, his pack isn’t like that, I’ve gotten to know them. I know I want to go there. Please, understand?”

“I do. I do more than anything. Your mate… he looks like he’s genuine. I listened to what he said, I watched him. I watched you and saw how he came without fail almost every day and never once was there even a mark on you,” right. Only those that looked like Yangyang had gotten into a fight with a grizzly but had luckily disappeared under clothes with tight collars, no big deal.

He knew what his father meant, what kind of marks. No those from some heavy make-out, all left from a place of affection and desire for each other.

Yukhei had never hurt him, how his parents seemed to, rightfully from their own experience, expect he would.

“Yeah, I told you.” Yangyang felt his dick throbbing from just the mention of the Alpha, which was really great considering his father was still in the room and he was getting wet again. Or. Wetter. God, this was miserable.

“I know. Sorry. I… I hope you’ll be very, very happy with him. And I hope you’ll come by, maybe. If you want to.”

Yangyang hickupped again and this was turning into a trainwreck by the second now.

He didn’t want to leave his parents behind. If they could come to terms they didn’t control him and he was doing the right thing here, hopefully, they could still be part of his life. How they used to be, not how they were now.

“Of course, I want to.”

Suddenly, his father held something under his nose that added a surprising side of immediate sickness to the mess of horniness and emotions Yangyang already was in.

“Drink this.” He said and it wasn’t a question.

“I don’t want to turn into an ugly frog, dad!” Yangyang whined and he was starting to burn up under the cover.

“Don’t be silly, it’s not a magical potion, it’s preventive. Against pregnancy!”

Yangyang hadn’t expected to be able to grow hotter, but his body kept surprising him in all the wrong ways.

He shakily took the glass and held his nose shut to down it in one go. He couldn’t even look at his father when he returned it, but he was very glad for it.

The fever-dream about mini-Yukhei seemed more in-detail with his body in heat, but he still had rational thought that very much let him know, getting knocked up was _not_ a great idea.

“Now, tell me, do you want me to leave the garden door open?”

Yangyang hid under the covers in shame and nodded.

He wasn’t sure if Yukhei would actually come today, seeing how it had snowed and was absolutely freezing outside. Just opening his window for a second to avoid suffocating in his own scent had been enough to decide it was an inside-day. Considering that Yangyang’s body was celebrating his presentation by making the Gobi desert pale in envy over how hot he was, it was really saying something that it was too cold for even him to enjoy it.

He passed the time by figuring out how to angle his fingers in a way that made him cry out loud from how great it felt, then to nap some more, avoiding the side of the bed where the sheets were sticky and disgusting.

The same thing repeated itself twice and by the third time, Yangyang had already opened himself up on three fingers and had imagined Yukhei holding him a bit too graphically, but it had really helped with the whole heat-thing.

After, he had cried because he was alone and no one loved him, when, before, he had been thanking all gods possibly up there for not making anyone witness this. Admittedly, it had been a low point of feeling like the world had abandoned him in a wave of instincts he didn’t know how to deal with yet.

Somehow, he had calmed himself down and fallen back asleep.

When he woke up, he already felt the heat thrum under his skin again. It was taking him from sad to horny in one second flat and made him question how much water he had already lost and if he had really been drinking enough.

He was about to get more when he realised there was a scent breaking up the overpowering sweetness that was now his own. He peeled open one eye and the same moment, the bed dipped and the spicy musk overpowered his senses.

“Yangyang, oh moon…” Yukhei’s voice was choked up and Yangyang stretched a hand out to touch him, almost starting to cry _again _when he felt his skin under his fingertips.

“Yukhei!”

“Fuck! Your scent,” Yukhei whispered. His eyes were dark and on Yangyang, but he wasn’t doing anything other than kneeling on the edge of his mattress and staring, which was absolutely unacceptable.

Yangyang kicked away his blanket and heard Yukhei pull air through his teeth sharply.

“I-I presented. Tada!” Yangyang remembered the wobbly parts on his stomach, but he was too much of a hot mess to still care they were there. All the worries, over Yukhei maybe seeing or feeling something he wouldn’t like, were muted by this _need_ to have him closer.

“Yes, you did, you absolutely did. Fuck, you’re so beautiful, I always knew you were.”

Yukhei’s hands hovered over his thighs and Yangyang raised himself up just enough to let the palms sit hot on his skin, and give Yukhei the hint he seemed to need. It was cute, how he suddenly seemed to be the one needing guidance and reassurance. It might become an issue seeing how Yangyang was the worst qualified person to do either of that, but it’d hopefully be fine. If he was already past being worried over his body, there was reason to hope he might be able to get Yukhei to put his hands where he wanted them.

Yukhei looked a little out of it, so, maybe, Yangyang’s scent hit him harder, now that it had what Yukhei had said it had been lacking before, just how it seemed to rid Yangyang of any thinking ability when he took too much of Yukhei’s.

Yangyang moving seemed to be enough to make him remember what to do and he grabbed the soft flesh under his palms. Yangyang sighed in the back of his throat when he let them move up to his hips, leaving a trail of prickling and reddening skin from how hard he pressed down on it.

“Yangyang, can I? Please, please I need to have you, you smell so damn good, so sweet and so perfect and I think I’m going crazy,” that definitely sounded familiar.

“Please!” Yangyang pulled Yukhei closer to kiss him while the Alpha kept running his hands up and down his thighs, always close but not close enough, riling him up more with every pass, more wetness soaking through the sheets underneath him.

Yukhei was messy in his kiss, impatient and just as hungry as Yangyang, and when he broke away, Yangyang felt not a spark of fear anymore. He was so sure in this being what he wanted, this being right, Yukhei being trustworthy for this.

“I’m all yours. I don’t know what I’m doing but I know I need you!” Yangyang whispered.

“I’ve got you, baby, I’ll make you feel good.” Finally, his hand moved from up his thighs to right between them and Yangyang opened his legs wider so Yukhei could find where he needed to get easier.

“Wow, you’re really wet,” his voice was husky and yet full of wonder.

“Please don’t narrate this,” was all Yangyang managed to reply.

“I’m sorry. I never knew it felt like this, fuck, this is amazing! Moon, you’re so beautiful, I don’t even know where to start!” Yukhei sounded genuinely overwhelmed. To think it was Yangyang doing this to him – was almost unbelievable. Flattering, obviously, very reassuring, too.

Maybe, after all, Yukhei had some sort of filter over his eyes that let him see Yangyang as some deity-like figure and not the clownish side-kick.

“Didn’t you… didn’t you do this before?” Yangyang had to close his eyes because seeing and talking at the same time wasn’t an available option anymore when Yukhei started rubbing over his already loose rim. It was so different when it was someone else touching him. He didn’t know what he’d do next and the anticipation added to the sensation of sensitive parts getting stroked just right, making heat run up his spine.

“No. Not with an Omega. It’s different. It’s different when it’s your mate. Nothing could compete.”

Yangyang felt warmth, different from the almost painful heat, bloom in his chest and when Yukhei pushed a finger into him, slow and careful, he was already high on the Alpha’s scent again.

Yukhei seemed to realise the muscle was opening easily for the penetration as well, and Yangyang could tell he was impatient.

Fittingly enough, so was Yangyang, now that he knew what one finger felt and how amazing the stretch was even when it was someone else. Maybe even better than when he did it on his own?

Whatever, thinking was too hard, he just needed to feel!

“Yukhei, please, I already used three fingers, it’s not enough!” he whined, bringing his hips down to get it deeper, but it wouldn’t quite reach “Angle up!”

“So bossy,” Yukhei breathed, but he pushed in a second finger and crooked them and Yangyang cried out, not having expected to get both at the same time and feeling yet another dry orgasm so close already. His body really should be exhausted, but it didn’t seem to remember the basic rules of physiology. Heat was truly fascinating.

Yukhei settled for a hurried rhythm of thrusting his fingers and Yangyang tried to protest because he didn’t want to come again so quickly, but he felt so good and he could hear his own slick squelch a bit with every move. It was obscene and absolutely dirty, but he felt so good, he never wanted to stop.

“Yangyang, do you think… can I fuck you? Knot you?”

“Yes, yes, oh, yes!” Yangyang gasped and his eyes rolled back when Yukhei pushed in a third finger, his movements growing rougher and still right into that perfect spot. He definitely hit it a lot easier than Yangyang had managed to on how own, and his fingers were longer, able to rub over it entirely and give him the best experience.

“C-claim?” Yukhei’s voice was small, almost scared.

His orgasm was so close, but with Yukhei asking these questions, Yangyang couldn’t quite focus on how mind-blowingly good he felt and how thick Yukhei’s fingers were in comparison to his own, and how effortlessly he could find his prostate and massage it.

He tried to ignore he was currently getting fingered in favour of thinking and talking, but it was sort of impossible. He was still trying. This was important. If Yukhei needed more reassurance, how could he not give it? “Didn’t we wait for this? Of course, I want to!” his voice was shaky, but this was sobering enough, so he was able to hold on while Yukhei deemed the moment he had three fingers in Yangyang the appropriate one to discuss this.

Admittedly, Yangyang hadn’t remembered to do so earlier either, so it was probably just because they were both airheads. Match made in heaven, right?

“I do, fuck, I can’t even think, you smell like I can get high off you!” Yukhei was suddenly caging him against the bed, kissing the column of Yangyang’s neck how he liked to but without leaving marks today.

Yangyang wanted to answer, but Yukhei’s fingers had moved just right. His words turned into a moan and he clenched down on Yukhei as he came.

He fingered him through it, rubbing all the right spots, and today, no oversensitivity set in, Yangyang’s body was just demanding more.

“Please make me yours, Yukhei.” He looked up at the other and Yukhei’s eyes turned the shade of red he had in his wolf-form.

His fingers were suddenly gone from his ass and instead, Yukhei cupped his face. Yangyang felt his own slick on his cheek and it was reasonably gross but he was also really horny, so, needless to say, he didn’t even complain and just let Yukhei kiss him.

“I want that, too. I want you, moon, I’m already so obsessed with you, how can I ever live without you?”

“Don’t.”

Yukhei seemed to realise that to be an option and Yangyang really couldn’t blame him, seeing how compromised his own thinking ability was at the moment.

“Okay. Okay, I won’t,” Yukhei kissed him again, slobbery and wet, but Yangyang didn’t even mind it. It fit this situation, which was, honestly, a mess as well.

Yangyang moaned loudly when he felt Yukhei’s fingers on his ass again, and he wasn’t left hanging, he pushed three back inside, opening Yangyang by scissoring them until he could fit a fourth.

The stretch was thick and intense, but Yangyang could ignore the faint burn by inhaling more of Yukhei’s scent, mixing with his own.

But just fingers weren’t good enough anymore. There was something else he wanted – and not only him.

“How… how should we do this?” Yukhei asked, voice only a rasp now and Yangyang guessed if he was worked up, it was probably nothing in comparison to Yukhei, who hadn’t even gotten his dick touched properly yet.

“All fours, didn’t you want to?” Yangyang remembered the silly comment and giggled breathlessly.

Yukhei pulled his fingers out much too quickly, “Yeah!”

Well, Yangyang had not really meant it, but he also didn’t have any preference for a complete lack of experience. Clearly, Yukhei liked the idea, why not try it?

He struggled to get himself upright to turn. He was over-aware of his ass and how it felt without fingers inside but still kind of remembering them in it just a moment ago. His thighs were sore and shaky and not really helping this whole situation, much less did the Alpha still kneeling between them and staring blatantly.

Yangyang still managed to do it and Yukhei caught his chin to press a quick kiss to his lips.

“Are you okay?” he asked, sounding both desperate and concerned and Yangyang guessed they were both not really in their right mind. A first time not during heat might have been a bit more methodical and careful, but he also appreciated how uninhibited it left him. Were he not yearning for Yukhei like this, he’d surely be a lot more awkward and scared.

Now, he knew what he wanted, kind of, and he didn’t hesitate to act on it.

“Very okay.”

“Good!” Yukhei kissed him again and Yangyang was undecided whether to linger and do more of that or to turn around and finally get what he longed for.

Yukhei bit down on his lower lip a bit too hard and Yangyang decided turning around it was, so, he pulled away and when Yukhei tried to follow, he pushed him back by his shoulder.

“Didn’t you want to fuck me?” he asked, hearing himself sound desperate and high-pitched.

Yukhei immediately let off and helped Yangyang turn around by putting his hands on his hips to steady his shaky legs.

When he stared at the sheets underneath himself and adjusted his hands to hold himself up, Yangyang suddenly felt like he would have preferred a different position, after all. His hole clenched around nothing and he wanted something in it, but he also didn’t quite dare raise his ass up how he needed to, feeling too shy for the first time of the day.

He felt Yukhei pull him up, so the decision was taken from his hands and he didn’t fight it.

“Fuck, you can’t imagine how you look from here,” Yukhei groaned and the mattress shifted. Yangyang looked over his shoulder, suddenly nervous not knowing what was going on.

Yukhei had crawled up to be right behind him and Yangyang could feel the warmth radiate off his body and meet with the heat he was emitting from burning up.

Yukhei pulled his hands back and Yangyang realised he was going to finger him again before he actually did. He still gasped when he pushed inside and had to drop his head and try breathing steadily, but nerves and arousal mixed into making his body weak and holding himself up on his arms got harder by the second.

“Everything about you is perfect, really. Can I?” Yukhei scissored his fingers aimlessly, doing nothing for Yangyang’s own need burning hot, other than teasing him into what could be.

“Fucking hell, yes, fuck me!” Yangyang growled, fed up with being left hanging, and nervous, and horny. If Yukhei thought he looked good like this, might as well get back on track of why he was in this compromising position.

Yukhei finally pulled his fingers out and Yangyang felt him move around a bit. Next, he felt the press of the tip of his dick against his hole and Yangyang twitched involuntarily. It felt big, so different from fingers, and he had to remember to stay relaxed and not make this harder than it needed to be.

“Te-tell me what’s bad,” Yukhei gritted out and Yangyang whimpered something in return, and then, he finally pushed in.

It was overwhelming. Yangyang felt himself be opened around the girth and he gasped for air but it felt like it was forced from his lungs instead of going in.

Yukhei stopped, giving Yangyang a merciful rest for only a second, then he pulled out a bit and pushed in a little further than the first time. He did it again, each time going deeper. Yangyang heard the small moans from Yukhei’s lips, but he couldn’t even breathe right, he felt so full, like he was split open.

He didn’t even know if he wanted to stop, but when Yukhei did, obviously realising some issue, he whimpered and involuntarily clenched down, missing the feeling of his dick rubbing on his rim with the small rocks back and forth.

“Yangyang, talk to me,” Yukhei leaned over his back, which he easily did with the height advantage, and carefully kissed his ear.

“M-more, more, please,” he wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t in pain, he was maybe a bit uncomfortable, but the feeling of being filled was good enough to want more.

“You sure? Try and relax, urgh, you’re too tight like this.”

“Maybe your dick is too big,” Yangyang whined back, but he managed to let go where his muscles had cramped up around the penetration.

“Does it hurt? It’s not…”

“Don’t you dare pull out!” Yangyang pushed himself back when he felt what Yukhei was planning to do and he almost screamed when he ended up getting him deeper than before and the tip brushed just past his prostate.

“Slow!” Yukhei gasped and grabbed his hips.

“S-sorry. That felt good,” Yangyang tried to re-adjust his stance, but his arms were so tired and he was so hot and he really needed more of it.

“Okay. Okay, I just, I’m really holding back here, fuck, Yangyang, I can’t make this bad for you but you’re so warm and amazing and you smell so good!”

Yangyang felt more affection warm his already over-heated chest at the words. He was thankful Yukhei was because he probably wouldn’t be able to handle it, but it also made his skin prickle in excitement, wondering how it’d feel when he wasn’t holding back. For now, Yangyang held still so they could both get it somewhat together.

When they had recovered, Yukehi resumed his earlier small thrusts, only now, his dick was rubbing not only on Yangyang’s rim, that was finally used to the stretch, but also over his sweet spot. What had felt overwhelming and almost bad before, now, Yangyang couldn’t hold back the moans when it felt just right and not enough. His fingers tightened in the sheets below him and he heard Yukhei groan behind himself, but he really couldn’t focus on much more than how absolutely amazing he felt.

“Good, Yukhei, so good,” Yangyang tried to think of more words, but he couldn’t. That he remembered names already seemed like an achievement.

He felt Yukhei’s thighs press against his and his hips against his ass, and he leaned over Yangyang from behind again, this time trailing kisses up his spine while he gave them a moment to breathe.

“I want to bite you like this, can I?” Yukhei asked huskily.

“Yeah, okay,” Yangyang shuffled his hands a little, and when Yukhei pressed tighter against his back, Yangyang felt his dick shift a bit inside him and he whined from it giving him a hint of what he wanted to feel.

The press of Yukhei’s tongue was wet and distracted Yangyang from the feeling, but he twitched and rocked his hips a tiny bit. It was so good, hitting so many great spots. He wanted to hold still for the bite, but the temptation was big. It’d feel even better if the thrust were a little bigger, just a bit more forceful…

Yukhei bucked up, in reaction to his movement, and Yangyang gasped when he pressed into that spot perfectly. He couldn’t help push back against Yukhei, hoping to feel it again, and it seemed like enough of an invitation for Yukhei to thrust in once more.

“Yukhei, Yukhei, please, please, please,” Yangyang clenched down on his cock and Yukhei’s next thrust was harder, accompanied by a small sound of skin slapping against skin, and Yangyang’s arms couldn’t hold himself up anymore, he just flopped onto the bed and Yukhei fucked right back into him again.

“Yangyang,” Yukhei sounded pressed and Yangyang tried to turn and see, but he couldn’t when he suddenly felt teeth on his neck, right over where his spine was in the middle.

Yukhei bit down with the next flex of his hips and Yangyang cried out a little. His head was spinning, another orgasm building in his gut so quickly, he felt dizzy. He desperately pushed back against Yukhei as much as he could while being held in place by the fangs sunk into his flesh, but Yukhei helped him out with slowly growing thrusts.

Finally, he pulled away from the bite and it should probably hurt, but it didn’t, and Yangyang just pressed his eyes close and tried to match Yukhei’s pace that became faster with every thrust now.

His face was rubbing against the sheets underneath him, but he couldn’t focus on whether that hurt or not, all his attention was on how Yukhei opened him up, on how he fucked into him.

His own moans mixed with Yukhei’s, neither of them capable of finding words to say. Yangyang knew he wasn’t going to last much longer, his thighs were shaking so badly, the only reason why he wasn’t flat on the bed was Yukhei’s big hands holding him up, but every thrust made his orgasm draw closer and made him moans a little more desperate.

“Y-Yangyang, I’ll…” Yukhei’s voice broke off and it was so incredibly sexy, Yangyang involuntarily clenched down. It made the sensation of Yukhei pushing into him again even more intense and Yangyang whimpered while Yukhei groaned loudly.

When he pulled out, Yangyang felt him catch on his rim and he realised Yukhei was close enough to start knotting. It seemed like Yukhei was running out of patience. Instead of holding him up, he started pushing Yangyang down into the mattress. His dick was suddenly rubbing over the sheets in rhythm with Yukhei’s thrusts and Yangyang jerked at how intense the stimulation became.

“I’ll come,” Yangyang managed to gasp, almost sob, and Yukhei fucked more roughly into him once, twice, pounding into his prostate and tugging on his rim whenever he pulled out his knot.

Yangyang couldn’t decide whether it hurt from how much it was, or whether it was the best thing he had ever experienced, but he bit down on the sheets and was finally pushed over the edge. He screamed, muffled by his bedding between his teeth, and his body spasmed around Yukhei, who pushed into him one last time and had to grind against his ass until his knot finally fit into Yangyang, where it pressed into his walls just right.

He wasn’t sure for how long he kept jerking and clenching down on Yukhei, his body moving all on its own from his orgasm. He heard Yukhei moan his name and he halted behind him and Yangyang felt the warmth of his cum inside him, which seemed to draw his own high out until he was limp on the bed, just gasping for air.

Yukhei collapsed on top of him, which really didn’t help the whole breathing-situation, but his arms were strong around him and he radiated warmth, for which there was no scientific explanation why Yangyang enjoyed it after already having turned into a mini-oven.

Luckily, Yukhei seemed to realise he was too heavy to be a blanket and turned them to the side, pushing his thigh between Yangyang’s and wrapping his arms fully around him. His knot moved and Yangyang’s breath hitched at how it felt. Oversensitivity had definitely kicked in now.

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll hold still,” Yukhei whispered and Yangyang nodded.

He felt him lick over where he had bitten earlier, then move on to his nose against his neck. Yangyang was sleepy and felt taken care off so well, he just hummed in content. Yukhei’s scent was like a cocoon around him, and it mixed so perfectly with that new sweetness.

“I love you so much,” Yukhei whispered and despite being half-asleep already, Yangyang’s face flushed.

“Hm yeah?” he muttered and grabbed the arm on his waist to hold onto.

“So, so, so much, I already did, but now, I smelt you the moment I broke the treeline and I just knew I could never be without you again, it was like my brain had just exploded, I only needed to have you. I was so surprised the door was open, but I would have climbed up to your window if I had to.”

“I told my dad to leave it open, so you’d come. I hoped you’d come.”

“You did?”

“Hm’yeah, because I love you,” Yangyang muttered and Yukhei licked over the bite mark again.

He must have dozed off. By the time he woke again, Yukhei’s dick in his ass felt a lot smaller, and Yangyang was horny again. But not as badly as before. Just… medium-horny.

He turned to check if Yukhei was awake, and found the Alpha had picked up his pocket-edition Grimm’s fairy tales from the nightstand.

He noticed Yangyang’s movement and put the book down.

“Hey, are you hungry?”

“Hm,” Yangyang was kind of, but mainly for more sex.

“You look so cute!” Yukhei kissed his temple, “Want to bathe and then eat?”

“I want more sex,” Yangyang announced, unhappy with the idea of leaving the bed.

“Bathe, eat, then sex?” Yukhei suggested, looking stern, “I have to take care of you, that’s my duty as your mate!” He looked very strict, but also very sexy, wait, what had the suggestion been again? Oh, right, food. What a strain, what a terrible fate…

“Fine,” Yangyang sighed deeply, and Yukhei now moved, so he dick slipped out and Yangyang groaned when he felt… things… trickle from his hole almost immediately.

It took three days until he woke up and felt rested and calm rather than needy and ready to whine to Yukhei to demand more – and by rested and calm, Yangyang meant sore like he had been hit by a truck and panicking because being in the nude suddenly was what it should be, which was embarrassing and heart-summersault-introducing.

Yukhei was fast asleep next to him, mouth slightly agape, but, obviously, still looking 1000 out of 10. Yangyang felt a little bad for wearing him out. Yukhei had explained he’d normally trigger his rut, but not during the presentation because it was too short.

Yangyang didn’t even want to know how sore he’d feel after a normal heat if this was the diet-version.

There was a scab over the crescent-shaped mark on Yukhei’s neck that Yangyang had left there while in his lap, rocking up against him.

He reached out to trace his finger over it, how Yukhei liked to do with the one he had left in Yangyang’s nape. The one Yukhei had left looked like the type to actually worry over, how he remembered Taeil to have worn it, high up and showing that there was already someone taking care of Yangyang, just in case someone couldn’t smell it on him.

Yukhei stirred and groaned and seemed to look for something missing until he grabbed Yangyang’s torso and immediately wrapped himself around it like a snake.

Yangyang’s face still flushed, even after what had happened in the meantime, but he didn’t pull away and scream but just let his head lie heavy against Yukhei’s chest.

“You smell normal,” Yukhei finally mumbled, voice thick with sleep, scratchy and even deeper than normal, and Yangyang hummed softly in return.

Yukhei carded his fingers through his hair and ran them down his shoulder, over the countless love-bites he had left littered over the skin, marking Yangyang additionally to the mating bite.

“Want to go home?” he finally asked and Yangyang’s chest felt so warm and full of affection, but nervousness choked him up a little at the same time.

Home, that would be another place from now on, one deep into the forest that was allegedly infested with wolves and evil spirits, one far away from the nasty glares and the painful punches.

One where the prince had ended up with the court jester, or maybe one where Yangyang was the princess.

“Yeah, let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, not all questions were answered. There's room for interpretation and choosing your own ending, just like in other parts of this AU~
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


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